Always You
by Samantha14
Summary: Rory's with Jess, Lorelai's pregnant (gasp!), and the other members of Stars Hollow are behaving as normally as they can, which is pretty weird. R/R, please! *COMPLETED! FINALLY!*
1. Maybe I Can Get Started

Title: Always You  
Chapter 1: Maybe I Can Get Started  
  
Disclaimer: Most everything belongs to the Palladinos and everyone at Dorothy Parker Drank Here and the WB.  
  
Summary: Starts at the end of "I Can't Get Started." Different ending. This focuses on Lorelai and Christopher over the summer.  
  
A/N: I just finished a ver long literati/javajunkie fanfic, and I was feeling sad and ready to write more, and besides, I have school tomorrow, and what's school without something to obsess about during the really long speeches by the dull teachers? So here's my story.  
  
By the way, the title is from a song by Sophie Zelmani called "Always You." It's on the My Best Friend's Wedding soundtrack and it's really good. If you want to know the lyrics, please e-mail me and I will e-mail them back to you. I really don't want to take up valuabe space and typing time by typing the words. sami57peace2u@hotmail.com  
  
  
  
~~~~  
  
  
  
After leaving Lorelai with Emily, Christopher had gotten the two women drinks. Richard had offered to take the drinks to Lorelai and Emily, giving Christopher a chance to talk to Rory. He caught up to her near a walkway and they began walking along it as they started their talk.  
  
"So, I'm guessing your mom talked to you?" Christopher asked his daughter, glancing at her out of the corner of his eye. She looked beautiful and way too grown up in her bridesmaid dress--almost exactly like her mother.  
  
"She talks to me all the time, frequently when I'm begging her not to."  
  
That sounded like Lorelai. But Christopher had a one-track mind. He tried to steer the conversation back. "And she told you what we discussed?"  
  
"She mentioned something about it, yes."  
  
"And what do you think about all this?"  
  
"I don't know. What exactly are your intentions?"  
  
"Excuse me?" Christopher was taken aback by how adult-like his daughter was being.  
  
"Your intentions--are they honorable?"  
  
"Completely honorable."  
  
"Yeah? Because we have been waiting for this for a really long time and we take disappointment extremely hard. I mean it, property damage is often involved."  
  
"Well, I better follow through on this, huh?" He intended to. He really did. Just as long as the universe didn't screw anything up...  
  
"I think that's an excellent idea."  
  
"Come here, you." Christopher pulled Rory into a hug. "When did you grow up so much?"  
  
"I think it happened somewhere in between the first step and the first driving lesson."  
  
"Ah. Makes perfect sense."  
  
A cell phone rang.  
  
"Is that me?"  
  
"I don't have one on me." Rory gestured to her pocket-less dress.  
  
"Right. It's probably work."  
  
"On a Sunday?"  
  
"Hey, lady, I've got a lot of responsibility now, okay?"  
  
"Okay."  
  
Christopher smiled. "Be right back." He walked off and flipped open his phone. "Christopher Hayden."  
  
Rory looked after him for a minute, and then felt someone watching her. She looked around to see Jess. She walked over to him.  
  
"Okay, thanks." Christopher hung up his phone and looked around for Lorelai. He finally spotted her on a bridge. "Lor!" he called as he walked up to her.  
  
"Ah, hey there. Listen, we're starting any minute. Have you seen Rory?"  
  
"Yeah, she's over there." Christopher pointed in the direction he'd left Rory.  
  
"Oh, good, okay. I'll find her. Go get a good seat. The wind's kicking up so this might be a really good show."  
  
"I have to ask you something."  
  
"Now?"  
  
"Soon. Very soon. I'd prefer now, but you're busy. I'll just go get a seat." Chris started walking towards where the chairs were set up. Just like he thought, Lorelai started running after him.  
  
"Chris! What do you have to ask me? Tell me now!"  
  
"I just got a call from this guy in Boston. He's got an apartment for me, and it's ready as soon as I want it."  
  
"Oh."  
  
"I told him I had to think about it."  
  
"What? Why? You're still moving out of your and Sherry's apartment, right?"  
  
"Yeah."  
  
"So why didn't you grab it? Hurry, call him back!"  
  
"Well, I was thinking that instead I get an apartment here."  
  
"Oh. Ohhh. You know what?" Lorelai smiled at Christopher.  
  
"What?"  
  
"I think you turning down that apartment is an excellent idea."  
  
"I thought you might think that." Christopher smiled back at Lorelai. They were standing so close together they couldn't see each other. He leaned closer and kissed her. She kissed him back.  
  
"Oh, you know what?" Lorelai abruptly broke the kiss. "I actually have to go be in a wedding right now, but I'll talk to you later, okay? And don't forget: good seat. Mucho mucho wind equals very good show."  
  
"Okay. And don't tell Rory."  
  
"Never. She gets too much good news, anyway."  
  
"We'll tell her together."  
  
"Oh, that's what you meant. That makes more sense. Bye." Lorelai smiled giddily as she ran over to her spot at the end of the aisle.  
  
"Bye." Christopher smiled after her and then headed for a seat.  
  
Rory ran over to her mother. Lorelai handed her a bouquet.  
  
"I think I'm going to Washington."  
  
"I think I'm in love."  
  
"Nice!"  
  
  
  
~~~~  
  
  
  
A/N: That's it for right now, but I'm gonna write more soon. My mind's already buzzing with the reception and then Rory leaves for Washington and Lorelai and Christopher have the whole house to theirselves. Isn't that how most of those keg party movies start? 


	2. Dances, Motorcycles, and 70s Hair

Title: Always You  
Chapter 2: Dances, Motorcycles, and 70s Hair  
  
Disclaimer: Almost everything belongs to the Palladinos.   
  
A/N: Well, I'm back. This starts at Sookie and Jackson's reception. I'm going on blind faith here; we all have no idea what happened there, except I'm guessing Luke and Jess didn't show up. Luke cause...well, it's Luke, and Jess cause Lorelai didn't know he'd showed up at Sookie's wedding. Anyway, continue, please.  
  
  
  
~~~~  
  
  
  
"Sookie looks happy, doesn't she?" Lorelai asked the table at large. Rory glanced in the same direction as her mother.  
  
"Yeah. How long have she and Jackson been dancing, anyway?"  
  
"Ten songs." Lorelai answered, sighing happily.  
  
"Wow. Their feet must be tired." Dean said.  
  
"And they haven't even done the whole 'you dance with my mom and I'll dance with your dad' thing." Rory pointed out.  
  
"Their feet will be _really_ tired by the end of the night."  
  
"So, Dean. You had lots of fun dancing all night with Rory at her debutante ball, huh?" Christopher asked.  
  
"Ugh!" Dean and Rory said at the same time.  
  
"I'm never wearing a tux again."  
  
"I hated those shoes."  
  
"You know, Dean, you're wearing a suit; it's almost the same as a tux." Chris pointed out.  
  
"And you're wearing the same shoes." Lorelai pointed at her daughter's feet.  
  
"Yeah, but we're not dancing," Rory explained as if it made the most sense in the world.  
  
"Oh, I see your point."  
  
"You do?" Christopher looked at Lorelai.  
  
"Well, yeah."  
  
Dean and Christopher looked at each other.  
  
"Crazy," Chris mouthed. Dean nodded.  
  
"Dean, come with your crazy girlfriend to get more finger food." Rory pulled at Dean's jacket. He stood up and allowed himself to be led over to the buffet table sagging with food.  
  
"I saw that crazy."  
  
"I know. So did Rory."  
  
"Ah, we're Gilmore girls. What can I tell ya?"  
  
"Come here, you crazy Gilmore girl." Christopher smiled and pulled Lorelai to him. They started kissing, and then a voice over Lorelai's shoulder made her jump away.  
  
"Really, it's quite rude to be showing that much affection in public."  
  
"Mom!"  
  
"Hello, Lorelai, Christopher."  
  
"Emily."  
  
"You seem surprised to see me, Lorelai. You knew I was here."  
  
"Well, yeah, but you disappeared a while ago. I thought maybe you and Dad had gone home."  
  
"More like hoped." Chris whispered in Lorelai's ear. She elbowed him in the ribs softly.  
  
"Yes, well, we tried to, but your father started talking to the parking attendant, and I finally got tired of standing there like an idiot, so I decided to come see what you and Rory were up to."  
  
"Oh, Rory went off to get some booze and smoke a joint." Lorelai waved a hand vaguely in the direction Rory and Dean had disappeared.  
  
"Lorelai, your sense of humor is absolutely appalling."  
  
"Why, thank you. I try."  
  
"That wasn't a compliment, and where is Rory, anyway?"  
  
"Rory and Dean went to get some of those little sandwiches, Emily. I'm gonna go get a drink. Want anything?"  
  
"Yes, a wine would be wonderful," Emily said very politely.  
  
"Vodka, straight up," Lorelai said.  
  
"So, that's two wines. I'll be right back." Christopher walked off to get the drinks.  
  
"Well, it certainly looks like Christopher's going to be sticking around for more than his daughter."  
  
"Oh, Mother, whatsoever do you mean?" Lorelai asked innocently.  
  
"Don't act like that, Lorelai, it's not very complimentary."  
  
"Oh, howsoever do you mean, Mother?" Lorelai continued her little act, this time adding her best Scarlett O'Hara accent.  
  
"What's with that ridiculous accent?"  
  
"Oh, what ridiculous accent? I'm not speaking any differently than I regularly do. Oh, swoon!" Lorelai laid the back of her hand across her forehead and leaned back in her chair.  
  
"Oh, Lorelai, get up."  
  
"I can't, Mother, I swooned." Lorelai shot up and explained in her regular voice and then leaned back into her chair and closed her eyes again.  
  
"Food!" Rory announced as she and Dean came back to the table. "Oh, did Mom swoon again?" she asked as she noticed Lorelai.  
  
"Does she do this a lot?"  
  
"Only when she's feeling dramatic," Rory explained to her grandmother. "She'll get up in a minute."  
  
"I have returned with the wine," Christopher walked up and handed a glass to Emily. Lorelai popped up.  
  
"All better now! Where's the booze?"  
  
"Lorelai, please! That is such an uncouth term." Emily scolded.  
  
"But--Frank Sinatra said it." Lorelai pouted.  
  
"I refuse to believe that Frank Sinatra said a term such as that."  
  
"Actually, in the song 'Let's Fly Away,' Frank sings about the exotic booze in far Bombay," Rory said.  
  
"Lorelai, what are you doing letting Rory listen to a song like that?"  
  
"Well, Mom, Rory's always had a mind of her own."  
  
"I'm a little worried about this, though. First Frank Sinatra. Then what? Elvis?" Christopher said.   
  
"Oh, stop it." Emily said.  
  
Rory and Dean were laughing.  
  
"Emily! There you are! I've been looking all over for you."  
  
"I've been right here, Richard."  
  
"Yes, well, hurry up. We've got to head home, it's getting late."  
  
"I was waiting for you, Richard."  
  
"No matter. Let's go."  
  
"All right. Goodbye Dean, it was nice seeing you again. Christopher, it's always a pleasure. Lorelai, Rory, I'll see you on Friday."  
  
"No, you won't, Mom, Rory's leaving for Washington Saturday."  
  
"So she'll be in town Friday."  
  
"Well, I was thinking maybe she and I could spend Friday together. Sort of a last-day-I'll-be-seeing-her-for-six-weeks-which-is-the-longest-we've-ever-spent-apart sort of thing. How about Thursday?"  
  
"Thursday it is."  
  
"Okay. Bye, Mom. Dad."  
  
"Goodbye, Lorelai. Rory." Richard said.  
  
"Goodbye, Grandpa, Grandma."  
  
Richard and Emily waved and then walked to their car, arguing.  
  
"Ugh, that woman." Lorelai groaned.  
  
"She can drive you crazy, can't she?"  
  
"What are you complaining about? She loves you."  
  
"My mother."  
  
"Ah."  
  
The four of them sat in silence for a little while, picking at their food and drinking their beverages. Then "Just the Way You Look Tonight" started playing.  
  
"Is that Tony Bennet?" Lorelai asked in wonder, pointing to the man sitting at the piano.  
  
"No, Mom, that's Morey."  
  
"All right, just checking."  
  
Suddenly Christopher stood up and held his hand out to Lorelai.  
  
"Will you give me the honor of a dance?"  
  
"Ooh, fancy. Now bow."   
  
"Will you?"  
  
"Of course." Lorelai took Christopher's hand and they started walking to the dance floor. "I got me my own dance partner," Lorelai said before they'd gotten too far away from Rory.  
  
Rory just looked at her parents and said, "Dance pretty!"  
  
"We will," Christopher answered her as he spun Lorelai towards him.  
  
"Hi," she said as he pulled her closer to his body.  
  
"Hi," he smiled back.  
  
"You know, the last time we did that whole 'hi' thing, you got lucky."  
  
"I'm always lucky when you're in my arms."  
  
"You've been getting pick-up lines from James Bond again."  
  
Christopher laughed. "Maybe."  
  
"Well, he always had some girl on his arm, so maybe they do work."  
  
"You look beautiful."  
  
"Thank you."  
  
They danced for a little while.  
  
"This is a great song," Christopher commented.  
  
"Yes, it is." Lorelai agreed. "Oh, no. I recognize that glint in your eyes."  
  
"And which glint is that?" Chris asked, grinning.  
  
"The glint you get right before you sing. Am I right?"  
  
"I don't know. Are you?"  
  
"Don't sing. You really won't get lucky tonight if you sing."  
  
"All right, maybe I won't sing."  
  
"Thank God."  
  
"Hey, is that some kind of crack about my singing voice?"   
  
"Yes. It's horrible."  
  
"Oh, you know, you're not one to talk."  
  
"Yes, I am! My singing voice is much better than yours."  
  
"Do you have a singing voice?"  
  
"Sometimes. When the CD's right."  
  
"Ahh."  
  
The song ended and Lorelai tried to walk off the dance floor. Christopher was still holding her hand, however, and he pulled her back.  
  
"Ack!" Lorelai almost tripped.  
  
"Oh, very graceful," Kirk commented as he was dancing by.  
  
"Kirk, aren't you the parking attendant?"  
  
"Uh, maybe."   
  
"Go!" Lorelai pointed with one arm, still holding Chris' hand.  
  
"Fine." Kirk put his orange vest back on and walked to the parking lot, twirling someone's keys in his hand.  
  
Lorelai shook her head. "Some people."  
  
"I don't think I've seen you like this before."  
  
"Like how?"  
  
"All boss-like."  
  
"I was never boss-like with you?"  
  
"Oh, sure, with me. I just haven't seen you like that with other people."  
  
"Oh, I see the distinction."  
  
"Yeah."  
  
They danced till the end of that song, and then Lorelai dragged Christopher back to the table, but he was snatched up by Miss Patty very quickly. Lorelai let them go, yelling "Dance nice, you crazy lovebirds!" Then she sat next to Rory at their table. "Hey, sweets. Where's Dean?"   
  
"He took Carla home."  
  
"Dragged off by a younger woman. Scandalous!"  
  
"He said he'd call later."  
  
"He's probably paging you right now."  
  
"I know. I'll get it in a minute."  
  
"Okay." Lorelai turned to watch Christopher and Miss Patty dancing.  
  
"You and Dad are really good dancers."  
  
"Years of practice, all wedged into three months."  
  
"Yeah. You're so good, you're like Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers."  
  
"Except for that whole they didn't really like each other in real life thing."  
  
"They didn't?"  
  
"No. So, in reality, we're like Fred Astaire and Cyd Cherisse."  
  
"My entire belief system has been crushed."  
  
"Ah, you'll get over it. Tomorrow I'll tell you a secret about Santa Claus."  
  
"Oh, tell me now!"  
  
"No, you have to wait."  
  
"Oh, please tell me now!"  
  
"Nope. Just brood over Fred and Ginger for tonight."  
  
"I can't believe you won't tell me the secret about Santa Claus."  
  
"I'll tell you another secret."  
  
"Ooh, what?"  
  
"Nah, I'll just tell you about Santa Claus."  
  
"Oh, tell me the other one!"  
  
"No, all you get now is Santa."  
  
"I don't care about Santa, tell me the other one!"  
  
"Nope, I'm not telling you the other one, and now you don't even get Santa."  
  
"Uh! That's so mean!"  
  
"Sorry. You insulted me and my Santa Claus secret."  
  
"No, I didn't!"  
  
"Too bad."  
  
"You're the meanest mom ever."  
  
"Relax. When your dad runs away from Miss Patty, we'll both tell you a secret."  
  
"Ooh, what?"  
  
"You have to wait."  
  
"No fair!"  
  
"Oh, I'm tired. I think I'm gonna go on home."  
  
"You're not tired."  
  
"Yes I am. I'm way too tired to be telling any secrets."  
  
"You are so mean."  
  
"I try."  
  
"I'm going to get a piece of cake. And I'm not bringing you one!"  
  
"Well, I'll just steal it from you. I want that 'meanest mom ever' award."  
  
"You have a weird mind."  
  
"And just think, I gave half of it to you."  
  
"So now you have no mind?"  
  
"Now you're being mean."  
  
"Well, I have to start now if I'm gonna steal that award away from you."  
  
"Oh, it's gonna take you three lifetimes to catch up to me."  
  
"Well, maybe I'll get coffee and won't give it to you either."  
  
"Now that's just cruel."  
  
"I learned from the best!" Rory walked off to get cake. Lorelai sat in her seat, pouting, until Christopher came back over and kissed her.  
  
"Hey!"  
  
"Hey. How'd you get away?"  
  
"I threw Miss Patty at Jackson's dad."  
  
"Ooh, good move."  
  
"Thanks."  
  
"You seem to be fitting in here."  
  
"Yeah, I think I am."  
  
"So you want to stay?"  
  
"Yeah, I do."  
  
"What about your job?"  
  
"They've got a Hartford office."  
  
"Really?"  
  
"Yeah."  
  
"So you'd get an apartment in Hartford, or..."  
  
"I was thinking either one here, or maybe not one at all."  
  
"As in on the streets?"  
  
"Are there people on the streets in Stars Hollow?"  
  
"Only when they're crossing them."  
  
"That's what I thought. No, actually I was thinking I'd move in with you and Rory."  
  
"Hmm. That's not such a bad idea."  
  
"What's not such a bad idea?" Rory asked as she walked up with three pieces of cake on one plate and two cups of coffee.  
  
"Coffee!" Lorelai gasped as she grabbed one cup from Rory.  
  
"Coffee's never a bad idea," Rory agreed. "Here, I got all of us some cake."   
  
"You're the best daughter ever."  
  
"I know. We have to share a plate, though."   
  
"Not anymore," Christopher said as Lorelai swallowed the last of her cake and speared a piece of Christopher's. "Hey, that's mine!"  
  
"Never shall a man come between a girl and her cake." Lorelai spouted through a mouthful of crumbs.  
  
"What's that from?" Chris asked.  
  
"The Gilmore book of rules." Rory explained. "You want my cake?"  
  
"No, you eat it."  
  
"Good; I was just being polite." Rory speared her own piece of cake, and before long she'd finished it. She and Lorelai started having a miniature fencing fight for some of Christopher's piece. Chris finally picked up a fork, stabbed the last bite, and shoved it in his mouth. Both girls 'aww'-ed in protest. He swallowed and held up his hands as if to say 'sorry!'  
  
"Now can you tell me the secret?" Rory asked.  
  
"What secret?" Chris asked. Lorelai leaned over and whispered and then recognition dawned across his face. "Sure. Okay, Ror, the thing is, Sherry and I are in the process of breaking up."  
  
Rory nodded. She knew that.  
  
"And there's a chance I'm gonna be around more often."  
  
"A chance?" Rory repeated. "How much of a chance?"  
  
"Well, it all depends on your mother." Christopher and Rory both looked expectedly at Lorelai.  
  
"Oh, it's my turn? Okay. Your dad is going to be moving in. Soon."  
  
"Oh, my God! Really?" Rory sprang out of her seat in joy.  
  
"Yeah. I am." Chris looked at Lorelai, and she smiled.  
  
"Oh, that's great!" Rory leaned down and hugged her parents at the same time. "Oh, I have to tell someone! Lane! I'll tell Lane!" Rory ran off.  
  
"I'm moving in?"  
  
"Yeah. You are."  
  
"Good." Chris leaned in and kissed Lorelai.   
  
  
  
~~~~  
  
  
  
Rory woke up early the next morning and started coffee. Before long, Christopher had come downstairs.  
  
"Hey, Dad."  
  
"Hey!" Christopher poured a cup of coffee and then watched as his daughter worked on something at the kitchen table intently. "Whatcha doin?"  
  
"Oh, just some preliminary stuff Paris brought over for our trip to Washington."  
  
"When did Paris come over?"  
  
"Right after Sookie's wedding ceremony but right before the reception."  
  
"Ah. That Paris is something, isn't she?"  
  
"Yeah. I don't think the word 'chill' is even in her dictionary."  
  
"Well maybe you can beat some sense into her during your six weeks together."  
  
"Death by her Zagat. Oh, the irony."  
  
Christopher laughed. "You're a good kid, you know that?"  
  
"I've come to that conclusion, yes."  
  
"What's this? A cloak-and-dagger meeting in the middle of the night?" Lorelai asked as she came downstairs.  
  
"Yes, Brutus and I were planning to murder you on the Ides of June, Caesar."  
  
"No smart talk before coffee! Rule number one." Lorelai took the cup of coffee from Christopher's hand. "Ah, sweet nectar of the gods."  
  
"That's smart talk!" Rory protested.  
  
"After coffee."  
  
"Oh."  
  
Lorelai placed her empty cup on the table. "Rory, stop working. We're taking your dad to breakfast."  
  
"Clothes." Chris and Rory pointed to Lorelai's pajamas at the same time.  
  
"Oh, yeah. Clothes. Come, my love slave." Lorelai pulled Chris upstairs with her, who threw a look at Rory. Rory just watched her parents, happy and in love, head upstairs together.  
  
  
  
~~~~  
  
  
  
"So what do you have planned today, Rory?" Christopher asked as the three walked to Luke's.  
  
"Probably more boring school stuff. Am I right?"  
  
"Yep. Boring school stuff."  
  
"It's summer, you big brainiac!"  
  
"Sorry, Mom, but Paris says that if we slack off over the summer, we can't have maximum effect when we come back in the fall."  
  
"I thought you were the vice-president because Paris needed to chill."  
  
"Ah, but 'chill' isn't even in Paris' vocabulary." Chris said.  
  
"Right. Dad suggested a solution."  
  
"Oh, really? And what was your dad's wonderful solution?"  
  
"Well, it involved beating Paris to death with her Zagat."  
  
"Ooh, painful! I like it!"  
  
"I thought you would." Chris laughed as they entered Luke's.  
  
"You know me so well." Lorelai kissed Christopher and then they sat at a table.  
  
"And whaddya want?" Luke walked up to the table.  
  
"Good morning, Luke! Yes, we did have a good time at Sookie's wedding last night. And you remember Christopher, Rory's dad, right?"  
  
"Hi. Whaddya want?"  
  
"Geez, so hostile. It's too early for hostile." Rory said.  
  
"Order or I'm leaving."  
  
"Pancakes and coffee." Lorelai smiled sweetly.  
  
"Pancakes and coffee," Rory echoed her mother. Then they all stared at Christopher, who was reading a menu.  
  
"Uh, the same for me."  
  
"Okay. That's three orders of pancakes. All that sugar will kill you."  
  
"It happens." Christopher shrugged.  
  
"Whatever. But when your arteries are so clogged with fat you need a quadruple bypass, don't come crying to me." Luke said to all three. Then he turned and headed to another table.  
  
"And coffee!" Lorelai yelled at his back. Luke just waved his hand in slight recognition.  
  
"He's got to be the friendliest man I've ever met." Christopher said.  
  
"Yep. That's Luke. Always bursting with friendliness."  
  
"He's so friendly, he knows how to knit," Lorelai laughed. Rory and Christopher stared at her for a minute.  
  
"So, Dad, what are you doing today?"  
  
"Actually, I've got to go back to Boston."  
  
"Ooh, evil Sherry!" Lorelai announced in a robot-like voice.  
  
"Yeah. I gotta tell her it's over, and pack, and everything."   
  
"Can I be there when you tell her it's over? Please please please please please??"   
  
"Sure. I need someone to drive the Volvo back, anyway."  
  
"Why?" Rory asked.  
  
"Because I'm going to be driving my motorcycle."  
  
"Ooh, you're keeping the Indian?"  
  
"Of course."  
  
"Yeah, you just wouldn't be bad-boy Christopher without it." Lorelai smiled and they leaned in for a kiss.  
  
"You two are sickening." Rory got up from the table.  
  
"Hey, where are you going, little missy?"  
  
"Bug Luke about the pancakes and steal some coffee." Rory walked off.  
  
"She is so your daughter." Christopher smiled at Lorelai.  
  
"Yeah, she's got my good looks, my brains, my dresses--what'd she get from you?"  
  
"The X chromosome."  
  
"And your musical ability, I forgot about your musical ability."  
  
"I thought I didn't have any musical ability."  
  
"Exactly. Ooh, pancakes!" Lorelai exclaimed as Rory brought breakfast to the table.  
  
  
  
~~~~  
  
  
  
"So are we telling Grandma and Grandpa about Dad?" Rory asked as the girls stood in front of the elder Gilmore residence that Thursday. They were two instead of three because Christopher had to work.  
  
"Hmm, no."  
  
"Why not?"  
  
"Let's let her squirm."  
  
"You're horrible to your mother."  
  
"Hey, just remember--I'm picking out your nursing home."  
  
"No, I'm picking out your nursing home."  
  
"Whatever. I'm your mother--what I say goes."  
  
"Okay, Emily."  
  
"Okay, that just hurts. You've hurt your mother, are you happy now?"  
  
"Very."  
  
The large door swung open.  
  
"Hello, how may I help you?"  
  
"Uh, we're the daughter and granddaughter." Lorelai answered the maid.  
  
"Wait, I thought that was Friday nights."  
  
"It usually is, but we're doing it today this week."  
  
"Oh. Okay." The maid moved to let the girls in.   
  
"Yeah, it's kind of a special thing."  
  
"Oh, so you're the company!"  
  
"Yeah, that would be us--the honored guests."  
  
"Okay." the maid said haltingly. "Uh, they're in the sitting room."  
  
"I guessed."  
  
"Buh-bye now!" the maid waved as the girls walked away.  
  
"She's new." Rory whispered.  
  
"Obviously. I swear, where does she find these people--the Valley?"  
  
  
  
~~~~  
  
  
  
"We've got a movie, we've got Luke's coffee, we've got candy. What are we missing?" Lorelai asked Rory as she looked around the living room the next night.  
  
"Dad."  
  
"Popcorn! That's what's missing."  
  
"And Dad." Rory added.  
  
"Oh, Chris'll be here soon."  
  
"We haven't seen him since you brought the motorcycle back on Monday. I still can't believe he let you ride it."  
  
"Well, he apparently needed the Volvo for his last-ditch running chance. I mean, it had his clothes in it."  
  
"He's not gonna ditch us. He just had work."  
  
"Okay. But if he doesn't show up in time for the pig's blood scene, we're heading over to Boston, finding his Volvo, and ripping out the stereo."  
  
"You got Carrie again?"  
  
"Yes. What's wrong with Carrie?"  
  
"Nothing, except we've seen it thousands of times, and I was hoping for something a little peppier my last day home."  
  
"Well, I just wanted you to have a nice memory to remember me by."  
  
"I'll call you every day."  
  
"I know."  
  
There was the sound of a car pulling in the driveway. Lorelai and Rory looked at each other.   
  
"That's either Christopher or a really stupid robber."  
  
Rory jumped up and ran to the door.  
  
"Come on, Mom, Dad's back!" Rory threw the door open and ran to meet Chris. Lorelai followed after her, almost as excited.  
  
"Dad!" Rory threw her arms around Chris. Lorelai threw her arms around the both of them.  
  
"Whoa! It's my two favorite girls!"  
  
"We better be your favorite girls," Rory said from somewhere in the middle of the hug.  
  
"Don't worry, we've got Carrie in the VCR. You can appreciate us that much more in two hours."  
  
"Carrie?" Chris asked incredulously.  
  
Lorelai let go of Christopher, allowing Rory to breathe once again. "What is so wrong with a nice horror movie from the seventies about pig's blood and telekinetic powers?"  
  
"Well, I just thought Rory might like something happier her last day here."  
  
"Ha!" Rory laughed at her mother.  
  
"It's just to help her appreciate her own mother."  
  
"Whatever you say, Lor."  
  
"Come on, movie night!" Rory pulled both her parents' hands behind her and dragged them into the house.  
  
"Ooh, that's not nice," Rory commented later as they were watching the movie. Mrs. White had just locked Carrie into a prayer closet.  
  
"I should lock you in a closet the next time you recieve your 'monthly curse of blood,'" Lorelai said in a horror-movie voice.  
  
"Ew, that's gross, Mom."  
  
"I agree. That is pretty gross."  
  
"We're not even to the pig's blood scene yet," Lorelai protested. Rory made a sound of disgust.  
  
"Okay, there will be no more talk of blood," Christopher said in an authoritative tone.  
  
"I like you bossy," Lorelai leaned into him.  
  
"Get a room," Rory proclaimed from the other edge of the couch.  
  
"Come here, you." Lorelai pulled Rory into the embrace with one arm.  
  
"Oh, we're out of popcorn." Lorelai declared a few minutes later. Christopher took the bowl from her arms.  
  
"I'll go make some more."  
  
Lorelai and Rory exchanged a look.  
  
"It's fun having him home."  
  
"Yeah, it really is." Lorelai squeezed Rory and then stood up.   
  
"Hey, where are you going?"  
  
"To show your dad where the popcorn is."  
  
"But the scary part's coming up!"  
  
"You're a big girl." Lorelai ruffled Rory's hair.  
  
"My hair!"  
  
"Now, that look's scarier than any Stephen King horror movie."  
  
Rory threw a pillow at her mother. Lorelai headed to the kitchen, narrowly escaping murder with a fluffy assault weapon. Christopher was standing with his arms crossed across his chest, watching the popcorn in the microwave. Lorelai snuck up and slid her arms around his waist.  
  
"Hey," he said, after he got over his initial surprise.  
  
"Hey, you sexy thing, you."  
  
"What happened to the movie?"  
  
"Rory's still watching it."  
  
"Alone?"  
  
"She's a big girl."  
  
"Yeah, she is. You did a really magnificient job, Lor."  
  
"Oh, you had to something to do with it, too."  
  
"Yeah, but you brought her up. You were there for everything. You're really the reason she's so wonderful."  
  
"No, she just sprang out the way."  
  
"You're being modest."  
  
"That's right, I am. I agree. I'm the entire reason our daughter is so wonderful. After seventeen years of coffee, movies, and junk food, who wouldn't turn out like that?"  
  
Christopher laughed. "You haven't changed a bit."  
  
"Is that a good thing or a bad thing?"  
  
Christopher poured the ready popcorn into the empty bowl. "A good thing. Definitely a good thing."  
  
"Why, thank you." Lorelai wrapped her arms around Christopher again. He turned around in his arms and their lips met in a kiss.  
  
"Agh!" Rory yelled from the living room.  
  
"What's that?" Chris asked in a panic, breaking the kiss.  
  
"Oh, that's just the 'John Travolta in his seventies haircut' scream. She's fine. Kiss me again."  
  
"Always, your majesty."  
  
"I like that," she murmured out of the corner of her mouth.  
  
"I thought you might." Chris smiled.  
  
  
  
~~~~  
  
  
  
"Bye, Rory." Chris hugged her in the airport the next day.  
  
"Bye, Dad. If you're not here when I get back, I'll break both your legs." she said in his ear.  
  
"I hear you loud and clear."  
  
"Let go of her; it's my turn." Lorelai used her hands to push Rory and Christopher apart. Then she wrapped her arms around Rory. "Call me every day."  
  
"I'm spending six weeks in a dorm room with Paris; I'll probably call you twenty times a day."  
  
"Okay, I'm good with that. Just don't call collect, or if you do, use 1-800-CALL-ATT. We don't want Mr. T mad at you."  
  
"No, a mad Mr. T is bad."  
  
"Gilmore! Let's go!" Paris called from further down the terminal.  
  
"Okay, Mom, you have to let go now."  
  
"No."  
  
"Yes, you have to."  
  
"No, I'll just come with you on the plane. You can explain I'm your older, more mature Siamese twin."  
  
"Mom!"  
  
"I'm never letting go."  
  
Rory stopped struggling. "Hey, Dad, you think you can lend me a hand?"  
  
"Sure." Christopher grabbed Lorelai around the shoulders and turned her around. She started to squeeze him.  
  
"Bye, Rory," Chris said as Rory started running towards Paris.  
  
"Turn around so I can see her." Lorelai demanded. Chris did as she asked. "Bye, sweetie!" Lorelai waved, one arm still around Chris. Rory waved back and then she disappeared around a corner.  
  
  
  



	3. Debates, Lurkers, and Something Big

Title: Always You  
Chapter 3: Debates, Lurkers, and Something Big  
  
Yay, I got reviews! Of course, I got one of them because I e-mailed and badgered the poor girl, and I'm sure the only reason she was so nice in her review is because I freaked her out, but anyway...I got reviews! (btw, Seehoo: Zoo-Zoo said you can borrow his glow-in-the-dark pencil. Now, I don't want to be mean to my best friend the invisible flying monkey, but I think it's your pencil! gasp!)  
  
A road trip in a story by me? Weird! Well, not that weird, cause if I recall, I wrote three other stories with road trips, although one of the road trips was a teenaged Lorelai's first introduction to Stars Hollow, and another is a yet-to-be-written travel by recently unemployed Christopher, alcoholic Lorelai, and thirteen-year-old in 2003 Rory. Anyway, the road trip in this story is Lorelai and Christopher and very fun, cause no one knows what's gonna happen...least of all me.  
  
And Rory: Her relationship with Dean and later Jess are going to continue exactly like the show, down to the break-up (if I make it that far). I've already been thinking it over in my mind and I can't wait till Christopher hears that Rory's going out with Jess, cause it's gonna be really funny! I think. But that's chapters from now!! Okay, you can read now.  
  
Don't forget, this takes place in June of 2002.   
  
~~~~  
  
  
  
Returning home from work at about six, Lorelai thought over her day. All in all, it had been pretty crappy. Travelers over the summer were apparently very tense and ready to complain. Sookie was still on her honeymoon, so not only was the inn without their famous chef, they were also without Jackson's produce. A buyer had shown up at around four in the afternoon demanding to speak to Mia. Apparently he'd spoken to her on the phone about the place, and he hadn't realized that while the inn was only a short drive from his office in New York, the owner was a much longer drive away. And on top of all that, Lorelai hadn't spoken to Rory since the night before and she hadn't seen Christopher since he'd woken her at five that morning by getting out of bed, rushing for his way too early morning meeting.   
  
Lorelai sighed upon entering the house, dropped her purse and keys and everything wherever they fell, and entered Rory's room. She walked over to Rory's bookcase and looked over the multitudes of paperbacks her daughter had accumulated over 17 years. She kneeled next to the bed and looked through those stacks.  
  
"Aha!" Lorelai pulled a Nick Hornby book--one of Rory's few contemporaries--out and plopped it on the bed. Noticing the lack of the bed's good pillow, Lorelai ran to her room and carried Rory's pillow back downstairs. She placed it next to the book, and then headed for Rory's desk and CD collection. She turned on Rory's stereo and pushed the button that caused the CD tray to slide out. Then she opened a few of Rory's desk drawers and searched through the CDs--half of which belonged to Lane. Finally finding what she wanted, Lorelai pulled the plastic square out of its tight space, extracted the disk, and placed it in the CD tray. Then she pressed another button that caused the tray to slide back into the stereo. The first strains of Sam Phillip's "Tell Her What She Wants To Know" flooded the room and Lorelai picked the book off the bed, laid down in its place, and started reading.  
  
Christopher walked into his new house. Lorelai's keys, shoes, purse, and suit jacket lay strewn across the floor leading from the front door to Rory's room. Sam Phillips was singing, loudly, at Christopher through the wall, so he set down his work and entered his absent daughter's room to find Lorelai in the spot she'd spent most of her time since Rory had left.  
  
"Lor." Chris nodded from the doorway. Lorelai looked up and smiled.  
  
"Hey, hon."  
  
"Hey. What are ya doin?"  
  
"Uh, just relaxing from a stressful day at work."  
  
"Ah." Chris entered the room and crossed to the stereo. He turned Sam down a few notches.  
  
"Hey!"  
  
"Relax, she sounds just as good a little quieter."  
  
"Working stiff," Lorelai muttered into the book in front of her face.  
  
"Look who's talking." Chris laid on the bed next to Lorelai, settling on his stomach so he could face her.  
  
"Bruce Willis as the voice of Kirstie Alley and George Segal's very young kid?"  
  
"Only in the movies." Christopher smiled. "So, you're back in Rory's room, huh?"  
  
"Yep."  
  
"Listening to Sam Phillips and reading...what are you reading?"  
  
"How To Be Good, by Nick Hornby."  
  
"Ah, one of his few not made into a movie."  
  
"Exactly."  
  
Chris rolled over and leaned back into the bed next to Lorelai. She lifted her head and he placed his arm underneath it and pulled her towards him. She snuggled in close and he kissed her on the top of her head.  
  
"I like you being here," Lorelai murmured.  
  
"I like it too."  
  
The couple lay there for a little while, just happy to be in each other's arms.  
  
"I wanna do something. Something big." Lorelai said suddenly, placing the book across her stomach to keep her place.  
  
"Okay. Like what?"  
  
"I wanna go on a road trip. Today."  
  
"A girl with a sense of adventure. I like it."  
  
"Good." Lorelai leaned in and kissed Christopher quickly on the lips. "Okay, go pack." Lorelai patted Chris' leg. He got up and then looked at her.  
  
"What are you going to do?"  
  
"I," she stressed, sliding off the bed, "am going to call work and tell them I'm not going to be in till Tuesday."  
  
"It's Wednesday."  
  
"I know. And then I'm going to pack, and you'll call your work, and then we'll both call Rory."  
  
"Great."  
  
"Good." Lorelai walked over towards Rory's stereo to turn Sam off.  
  
"Wait. Keep her playing. As a matter of fact, play her louder."  
  
"Can do," Lorelai agreed happily, turning the large knob all the way to the right. She watched Christopher go up the stairs, and then she grabbed the phone and walked onto the front porch.  
  
"Independence Inn, how may I help you?" a very peppy voice answered Lorelai's call.  
  
"Hi! Is this Kaylee?"  
  
"Why, yes it is! Who's this?"  
  
"Lorelai Gilmore."  
  
"Oh, Miss Gilmore, hi! Is this just a routine call to check up on your faithful employees?"  
  
"Your first week, huh?"  
  
"Yeah! How'd you know?"  
  
"Just a hunch. No, actually, Kaylee, I'm calling to let everyone know I'm not going to be back until Wednesday."  
  
"Oh, why?" Kaylee asked, sounding very sad.  
  
"Oh, I'm taking a few personal days."  
  
"Anything serious?"  
  
"No."  
  
"'No'?" Kaylee repeated, sounding a hell of a lot sadder than she had a few seconds before. "No pregnancy, body casts? Not even a death?"  
  
"No. Sorry," Lorelai added, just because Kaylee sounded so forlorn.  
  
"Yeah, whatever. Talk to you later, Miss Gilmore."  
  
"Bye," Lorelai responded as the dial tone sounded in her ear. Lorelai hung up the phone, and turned to go back inside when something caught her eye. Or some_one_, actually. Lorelai leaned against the porch railing as she gazed intently in the direction of a boy who looked remarkably like Jess slowly walking down the other side of the road reading a book and every once in a while glancing at the Gilmore-Hayden house.  
  
"Is he back?" Lorelai whispered to herself, still staring at the boy walking down the street. Then he looked up and caught her eye. "Yep, he is. Sonofabitch." Lorelai looked after the spot where Jess had run off, slightly incensed. Then Christopher walked out of the house and wrapped his arms around her waist, and she happily melted into his body, all thoughts of Jess forgotten.  
  
  
  
~~~~  
  
  
  
"Paris, chill."  
  
"Chill? I can't chill! I don't know the meaning of the word! Whaddya mean, chill? How can I chill? We have a debate in less than twelve hours against a team of school-obsessed kids from Boston!"  
  
"Which we're completely prepared for. We've been practicing since before we got elected."  
  
"We didn't practice enough! We need to practice more! Do you know what's in Boston?"  
  
"Cream pies and a harbor?"  
  
"Don't try to joke, Rory. You know I can't handle jokes! Harvard is in Boston. Okay? Harvard! You know, that school I've been working towards for seventeen years?"  
  
"Paris!" Rory grabbed Paris by the shoulders. "Breathe. Take a deep breath."  
  
Paris shakily drew in some air.  
  
"Let it out," Rory continued in a soothing voice.  
  
Paris blew the air out through pursed lips very quickly.  
  
"No, slowly."  
  
Paris repeated the exercise just as quickly.  
  
"Okay, whatever. Just keep doing that. And pace. Pacing will help you." Rory added as Paris started to walk quickly back and forth across their small room.  
  
Paris just nodded. The phone rang and Paris jumped.  
  
"Relax! It's probably just my mom."  
  
"Your mom needs to get a life." Paris said as she walked past Rory.  
  
"Look who's talking," Rory muttered as she walked towards the phone. "Hello?"  
  
"Hey!"  
  
"Hey," Rory said. It wasn't her mother's voice; it was a boy's voice. The line was kind of static-y, so she couldn't make out which boy. She knew which boy she wanted it to be, and she hoped, almost against her will, that it was him. "Where are you?" she asked, hoping that would answer who it was without coming right out and asking.  
  
"I'm at my grandmother's house in Chicago."  
  
Rory's heart sank. It was Dean. Then she forced a smile onto her face. It was Dean! Her boyfriend! "Already?"  
  
"Yeah. I'm not gonna be home for over a month."  
  
"Really? When do you get home?"  
  
"Uh, September fourth."  
  
"Oh, same as me! Great!"  
  
"I know."  
  
"Well...great!"  
  
"Yeah. You already said that."  
  
"Rory! I'm freaking out again!" Paris called from her pacing spot.  
  
"Think about something else."  
  
"Like what?" Paris called frantically.  
  
"Is that Paris?" Dean asked.  
  
"Yeah, we've got a debate tomorrow and she's kind of freaking out."  
  
"That's not very surprising."  
  
"Rory, I'm still freaking out here!" Paris yelled once again.  
  
"Uh, sorry Dean, I gotta go. Talk to you later."  
  
"Okay. I love you."  
  
"Me, too. Bye." Rory hung up the phone and it rang again almost immediately.  
  
"Rory! If you answer that phone I'm going to murder you after the debate tomorrow!"  
  
"Right, because if you murder me before I can't debate." Rory picked up the phone.  
  
"Rory!"  
  
"Relax, I'm just gonna talk to them very quickly, and then I'm going to place a call directly to the mental insitution."  
  
Paris nodded.  
  
"Good. Hello?"  
  
"I must say that was a very interesting conversation." Lorelai sounded very amused.  
  
"Things always are with Paris."  
  
"Obviously. How are you putting up with her?"  
  
"Missing you terribly."  
  
"Ah, it's always easy to miss beautiful, smart, charming, witty women like me."  
  
"I thought there was only one person like you."  
  
"Well, I'm sure other people try to compare themselves to me."  
  
"Ah, just being nice to all the poor schmoes who aren't you?"  
  
"Exactly! You're the only person who understands me!"   
  
Rory heard a giggle and her dad's voice.  
  
"And Christopher. Chris understands me."  
  
"Of course." Rory smiled as she listened to her mother and father laugh on the other end of the phone. She was very happy they were finally together...well, again.  
  
"Hey, what are you doing for the next couple of days?" Lorelai's voice snapped Rory back to attention.  
  
"Uh, not much."  
  
"The debate! We have the debate!" Paris yelled.  
  
"The debate," Rory said into the phone. "Why?"  
  
"Well, your dad and I are going on a road trip, so if you call me you have to call on the cell phone."  
  
"Okay. Do you know when you're going to be back?"  
  
"Uh, no. Not really. See, unlike you, your father has a sense of adventure."  
  
"Just packing up and leaving?"  
  
"Exactly! We must be on the same wavelength or something."  
  
"Yeah, maybe."  
  
"Listen, I've got more stuff to pack, so talk to your dad."  
  
"Hey!" Christopher was on the phone in less than two seconds.  
  
"Hey, Dad. So I hear you're packing up and leaving?"  
  
"Yep. It was your mother's idea."  
  
"I know."  
  
"We'll probably stop down there in a few days."  
  
"Yeah, I figured."  
  
"Oh, my God!" Paris suddenly yelled and sank into a chair.  
  
"What is it, Paris?"  
  
"What if they change the topic before tomorrow? We'll be screwed."  
  
"They're not going to change the topic."  
  
"Yes, they are! Oh, my God!"  
  
"Okay, Dad, I have to go. Paris is freaking out again."  
  
"Of course."  
  
"Have fun."  
  
"You, too. Love you."  
  
"Love you, too. Tell Mom bye."  
  
"Can do. Bye, sweetie."  
  
"Bye, Dad." Rory hung up the phone. 


	4. The American Dream

Title: Always You  
Chapter 4: The American Dream  
  
Well....  
  
Uh....  
  
Are you bored?   
  
I am.  
  
Ooh, maybe you should read the story, and then review for me, and then I won't be so bored!  
  
Yay!!!!  
  
  
  
~~~~  
  
  
  
"The Jeep or the Volvo?" Lorelai asked Christopher. They were headed down the stairs, each with two bags over their shoulders.   
  
"The Jeep. It's much better for an adventure."  
  
"Aww, but the Volvo's got the best sound system ever!"  
  
"Are you warming up to the nerd car?" Chris paused at the bottom of the stairs and looked up at Lor.  
  
"Yeah, but only because it's a nerd car with a rocking interior." Lorelai jumped over the last two stairs and smiled at Christopher. "Kinda like you."  
  
"Oh, so I'm a nerd now?"  
  
"Always and forever. You might have a leather jacket and a motorcycle, but you also have a job."  
  
"You have a job," Chris pointed out, lifting one of Lorelai's bags to his shoulder.  
  
"Yeah, well....So?"  
  
"Oh, great comeback."  
  
"Leave me alone, it's late in the day and I'm tired." Lorelai followed as Chris led the way outside to the Jeep. Chris piled the three bags from his arms onto the ground and started lifting the first one into the back of the Jeep. He looked at Lor.  
  
"Do you wanna wait and go in the morning? Cause we can."  
  
"No, it's okay. I wanna go now."  
  
"Okay," Chris hoisted the second bag into the Jeep. "But, you know, if we start driving now, we won't be able to get a hotel and still go farther than the Inn."  
  
"We'll just sleep in the car." Lorelai smiled. Christopher smiled back and they continued packing away their luggage. Two minutes later, they were all set to get going.  
  
"Here. Start the car. I've gotta get a few more things from the house and lock up. Be right back." Christopher leaned in and kissed Lorelai, thrust the keys to the Jeep at her, and headed into the house. Lorelai started the car, and then headed for Chris' Volvo to ransack his tape collection. She depleted the car's supply of music greatly (leaving only a few Offspring tapes) and made it back to the Jeep before he exited the house. Exhaustion licking at her heels, she sat in the passnger side of the Jeep and waited for him to join her. He did a few minutes later, his hands loaded down with packages.  
  
"Ooh, what's that?" Lor asked as Chris slid behind the wheel.  
  
"Sweets to the sweet." Chris smiled and dropped the packages into the seat between them. There were three packages of Pop-Tarts, a pizza box with only-a-day-old pizza, one half- and one whole-full coffee can, and four thermoses of freshly made--  
  
"Coffee!" Lorelai exclaimed, opening a thermos under her nose and inhaling the wonderful scent. "You know just what I want."  
  
"I always have." The Jeep started and Chris angled it out into the street. He steered the car through the town, and when they were stopped at the only traffic light, turned to Lor and said, "Hey, I have a question. Which way are we going?"  
  
"Mmm. When Rory and I went on our road trip last year, we headed that way." Lorelai pointed out the windshield. "But we want to go south this year, so let's go the other way."   
  
"Okay. The other way it is." Christopher nodded and faced the traffic light again. Still red.  
  
"Tunes!" Lorelai exclaimed. "We have to turn on the tunes!"  
  
"Agreed," Chris nodded. "Which ones?"  
  
"Let me look." Lorelai climbed out of her seat and started going through the bag full of tapes in the back of the car. "What do you want?"   
  
"Road tunes," Christopher shrugged.  
  
"Helpful!" Lorelai swatted him with one hand. "Here we go." Lor picked out a tape and settled back into her seat.  
  
"What'd you get?"  
  
"You don't get a say!" Lorelai extracted the cassette from from its case and stuck it in the radio. As AC/DC started to flood around the couple, the traffic light turned green and the car started moving.  
  
  
  
~~~~  
  
  
  
"Hand me another Pop-Tart," Lorelai mumbled through a mouthful of crumbs.  
  
"It's the last package."  
  
"Then we'll just have to buy more."  
  
"Again? We just stopped two hours ago."  
  
"Hey, mister, I'm the reason you're getting lucky on a regular basis, so you better keep me happy."  
  
"Yeah, uh-huh. You know, we might not find another service station for a while."  
  
"Yeah, cause we're on a back road."  
  
"Exactly. Maybe we should pull over and stop for the night soon."  
  
"Mmm, maybe. Hand me some more coffee."  
  
Chris handed one of the thermoses that had been refilled many times in the last four hours to Lor. He smiled as he glanced her way. She smiled back.  
  
"Hey, are you wearing sunglasses?"  
  
Lorelai raised her hand to the lenses pushing back her hair. "Huh. I guess I am."  
  
"Sunglasses at night?"  
  
"Yeah, sunglasses at night. Ooh!" Lor leaned out of her seat and into the bag of tapes in the back.   
  
"Whoa!" Chris held out a hand in front of Lor.  
  
"Relax, soccer mom," Lorelai bounced back into her seat with a tape. "I'm fine." She leaned forward, ejected the Eurythmics tape, and pushed the new tape into the player.  
  
"What tape is this? Oh, no." Chris groaned as he heard the familiar opening keyboard chords.  
  
"Oh, yes." Lorelai smiled and started singing. "I wear my sunglasses at night, so I can, so I can, watch you weave then breathe your story lines..."  
  
"Corey Hart?" Chris yelled in his "you-think-offspring-is-bad?" voice.  
  
"Hey, it's better than Corey Feldman. Don't switch a blade on a man in shades, oh no!" Lorelai sang along with Corey.  
  
"Okay, I refuse to play this crap," Christopher leaned toward the tape deck with the intention of throwing whichever Corey it was out of the window forever.  
  
"Hey! Do you want to get lucky?" Lorelai swatted his hand away.  
  
"Can I even get lucky in this car?"  
  
"Our daughter was concieved on my balcony."  
  
"Good point." Christopher returned his hand to the ten o'clock position on the steering wheel.  
  
"So Corey stays?"  
  
"I guess, as long as the sunglasses stay, Corey stays too."  
  
"Yay! Ooh, refrain!"  
  
Chris shook his head as Lorelai sang along with the refrain.  
  
  
  
~~~~  
  
  
  
"Yes, he actually listened to my Corey tape. I know, I couldn't believe it either!" Lorelai said into her cell phone.  
  
"He loves you, you know." Rory, sitting up in bed in Washington, spoke into her phone.   
  
"I know. It's great." Lorelai smiled widely at Christopher's sleeping form on the other side of the front seat.  
  
"You love him too!"  
  
"What? I do not!"  
  
"You so do! Just admit it! You love Dad!"  
  
"Well...maybe."  
  
"Oh, my God, my parents are in love! It's the American dream!"  
  
"How'd you know, Miss Busy-body?"  
  
"You can't call me a busy-body, _you_ called _me_. It's only five-thirty!"  
  
"Ooh, yuck. But you didn't answer my question."  
  
"What question?"  
  
"How'd you know?"  
  
"Know what?"  
  
"Rory!"  
  
"I could practically hear you beaming over here, that's how I knew."  
  
"Really?"  
  
"Yeah! And you know, a good thing to do would be to tell him. He'd love to know."  
  
"Well, yeah. Maybe soon."  
  
"Soon? Hah! Listen, if you tell him before you visit me here this week, I'll throw you a party."   
  
"Who said I'm visiting you?"  
  
"Mom."  
  
"Yeah, okay. What if I wait till before you come home? Do I still get a party?"  
  
"Nope. This week."  
  
"Ugh, slave driver."  
  
"That's me. Just ask for the lady with the whip."  
  
"Ooh, dirty!"  
  
"Mom!"  
  
"Sorry. Ooh, I gotta go. Bye, sweets."  
  
"Bye, Mom. Have Dad call me later."  
  
"Sure. Love you."  
  
"Love you too." Rory hung up the phone. Hah! Her parents were in love! She smiled and snuggled back into her nice, warm, comfortable bed, just perfect for sleeping the day away....  
  
"I have decided to switch to Independent!" Paris sat straight up in bed, asleep, with her finger in the air and a determined look on her face. 


	5. Matchmaker, Matchmaker, Make Luke A Matc...

Title: Always You  
Chapter 5: Matchmaker, Matchmaker, Make Luke A Match  
  
Well, Sookie will be in this chapter, along with Rory and Paris and maybe a boy! Ooh! Scandalous! Also directions around Washington D.C. I of course have been to the nation's capital, but did I pay attention? Noooo. I'm writing this on the basis that the entire group is staying in a hotel. They might have been staying in the Georgetown dorms, but I dunno. We'll just pretend they were staying in a pretend hotel on a pretend street near the Capitol. I know nothing of substance. If anyone knows anything different from the stuff in my story, please email me at sami57peace2u@hotmail.com or review. Thank you much!  
  
Oh, and okay. How hilarious was Sookie explaining how she cut her shirt in the show Tuesday? "And then...I flipped...and whoosh!"  
  
  
  
~~~~  
  
  
  
"Ooh, turn here!" Lorelai exclaimed. "Turn, turn, turn, turn, do it now! Now! Now!"  
  
"Okay, calm down, I'm turning."  
  
"Yeah, finally."  
  
"Hey, no one likes backseat drivers!"  
  
"I'm not a backseat driver. I'm a passenger seat driver."  
  
"Same thing."  
  
"Nuh-uh!"  
  
"Hey, do you know where Rory's staying?"  
  
"Uh...yes?"  
  
"Yes, like yes I do and this is the way or yes like no but I know that's what you want me to say?"  
  
"Yes like no but I know that's what you want me to say."  
  
"You talk to her twenty times a day and you don't know where she's staying?"  
  
"She told me, I just can't remember."  
  
"Well, what are we supposed to do?"  
  
"Break the most important man rule and ask for directions?"  
  
"To where?"  
  
"Uh, I dunno." Lorelai's cell phone rang. She grinned. "But I bet she does."  
  
"Who?"  
  
"Rory," Lorelai answered, digging through her purse for her phone.  
  
"What makes you think that's Rory?"  
  
"Because Rory always knows when to save me."  
  
"In your dreams."  
  
"Exactly." Lorelai finally found her phone and answered. "Hello?"  
  
"Hey, Mom."  
  
"Hey, Rory!" Lorelai looked pointedly at Chris and stuck her tongue out.  
  
"Oh, that's mature." Christopher rolled his eyes.  
  
"Hey, you're the guy who couldn't ask for directions."  
  
"Mom?" Rory asked on the other side of the phone.  
  
"Sorry. Your dad's being a big baby."  
  
"Of course."  
  
"So, babe, I've got a question to ask you."  
  
"Shoot. Not me, though. The question."  
  
"I was wondering where you're staying. I mean, bang."  
  
"Oh, we're staying in Lincoln Inn near the Kennedy Center on Roosevelt Drive."  
  
"Next to the tree George Washington cut down and couldn't lie about?"  
  
"Not exactly, but it sounds like it should be, doesn't it?"  
  
"Totally. Lincoln Inn on Roosevelt Drive," Lorelai told Christopher. Then she said into her phone, "They should mention some of the other presidents too, like...Carter."  
  
"Why Carter?"  
  
"Cause he was the only one I could remember in the last twenty-five years that didn't make me want to throw up."  
  
"I can see that. So, why do you want to know where we're staying?"  
  
"Oh, because I forgot, and my mother called, and wanted to know where you were. You know, I think they might leave Martha's Vineyard to visit you. Every time they called I kept screaming about JFK Jr."  
  
"Mom!"  
  
"What? He was around there somewhere when he died. Wasn't he? Ooh, did you know they're making a made-for-TV movie about him?"  
  
"Yes, I did, and I don't understand why."  
  
"Because it's an excuse to show off Portia de Rossi's post-Ally real-life body!"  
  
"Oh, I see. Ugh, Mom, I gotta go. Paris is going postal about her phone."  
  
"Okay. Don't tell her we're coming."  
  
"If you want to get on her good side, bring mac and cheese."  
  
"O-kay. That's...weird."  
  
"Very. Bye, Mom."  
  
"Bye, hon." Lorelai pressed the end button on her cell and dropped it back into her purse.  
  
"That was an interesting conversation."  
  
"You don't get out much."  
  
"Me? Get out? Never."  
  
"Ooh, there's Roosevelt Drive! Turn, turn, turn, turn, turn!"  
  
  
  
~~~~  
  
  
  
"Hey, Luke." Sookie greeted as she entered the diner.  
  
"Sookie. You're back. Where's Jackson?"  
  
"Greeting his vegetables. He's really missed them."  
  
"So didn't wanna know that. You want anything?"  
  
"Mmm, it's Danish Day, isn't it?"  
  
"Lorelai made you memorize the schedule too?"  
  
"Pretty much. I'll have some coffee and a blueberry danish."  
  
"Speaking of Lorelai, do you know where she is? I haven't seen her in a while." Luke placed Sookie's danish in front of her.  
  
"No, I haven't been to the inn yet."  
  
"When was the last time you talked to her?"  
  
"Yesterday. I called her at the inn."  
  
"Oh, yeah? And what'd she say?"  
  
"She just mainly said that they were missing me like crazy over there, and she was having a bad day. Luckily she had Christopher to cheer her up when she got home," Sookie giggled.  
  
"Yeah. Christopher's a great guy," Luke muttered, his voice dripping with cold sarcasm.  
  
"He really is," Sookie said, taking note of Luke's tone of voice and filing it away for later.  
  
"Anything else?" Luke placed a cup of coffee in front of Sookie.  
  
"No, I think this is it. Thanks, Luke."  
  
"Yeah, whatever," Luke walked off. Sookie watched as he started to argue with Kirk. She set her mind on something, left money on the counter, and headed for the inn...and Lorelai.  
  
  
  
~~~~  
  
  
  
"Have you seen my notebook?"  
  
"Yes, in the exact same place it's been for the past week," Rory exasperatedly answered Paris.  
  
"Where?"  
  
"It's in your bag, Paris. It's been there for a week."  
  
"Oh, yeah. Thanks."  
  
"You're welcome." Rory turned back toward the speaker at the front of the auditorium. They were sitting with the rest of their group, listening to a speaker explain about the electoral college before they walked into the Capitol to visit their elected officials.  
  
"Where's your notebook?" Paris asked pointedly. Rory lifted the notebook in her hand enough so Paris nodded and started taking notes. The speaker asked for questions, and Rory's hand shot up. "What are you asking?" Paris asked frantically.  
  
"You'll see."  
  
"You, three rows back in the blue." The speaker called on Rory.  
  
"Yes, I'd like to know something."  
  
"I assumed as much."  
  
"Yeah, well. Anyway, I'd like to know. Chad is pregnant. Is it a republican, a democrat, or a way for Jeb Bush to help his younger brother get into office?"  
  
The entire group started tittering. Paris turned red.  
  
"People, people, quiet, please!" The speaker yelled. "What's your name?" she asked Rory.  
  
"Rory Gilmore."  
  
"Yes, well, Miss Gilmore, I must say, that's one of the first times I've been asked by a high school student about the chads two years ago. Personally, I believe something that could very well get me fired, but professionally? Jeb Bush had nothing to do with the chads being pregnant or otherwise. That was the doing of the voters."  
  
"Yes, but if that was the doing of the voters, why were the voters of Florida and Florida only stupid enough for that? And only in the largely democratic counties? For that matter, why were many of the people in the predominately democratic counties not picked up to go vote?"  
  
"Well, Miss Gilmore, I don't know why that is. Perhaps you should speak to Mr. Jeb Bush. That's all of our time; enjoy your visit here in the nation's capital." The speaker nodded and hurried off the stage. Paris turned to Rory.  
  
"What the hell was that?"  
  
"Nothing. I was just voicing my opinion, that's all." They headed out of the auditorium into the bright mid-morning sunlight with the rest of the group.  
  
"Well--good job."  
  
"What?" Rory looked, shocked, at Paris.  
  
"That's a great opinion. I don't know if I would have said the same thing, but that's a great opinion. And you flustered the speaker! It's always fun to fluster a speaker."  
  
"I agree."  
  
"We should do that more often. Hey, when we meet the president?"  
  
"Yeah?"  
  
"Let's ask if he and Jeb have had much chance to talk to Chad lately."  
  
"Sure. That sounds like an absolutely hilarious idea. My mother would be proud."  
  
"Speaking of your mother, is that her?" Paris pointed over Rory's shoulder. Rory spun around.  
  
"Yeah, that's her."  
  
"Who's that guy arguing with her?"  
  
"My dad." Rory smiled.  
  
  
  
~~~~  
  
  
  
"She's gonna hate you forever."  
  
"Are you kidding? She loves me. She'll be thrilled that we asked where the group was. Maybe they'll let us go into the Capitol with them!" Lorelai's eyes lit up.  
  
"No, I don't think anyone will let you into the Capitol."  
  
"Oh, why not?"  
  
"Why not? I think after you run down the halls screaming 'Chad! Chad's come back from the dead, and he's pregnant!" they might kick you out."  
  
"Hey, I only did that once in Florida, two years ago. What makes you think I'm going to do that again?"  
  
"Because it was only a year and a half ago, and you've been babbling about Chad for two weeks straight."  
  
"Oh, you heard that, huh?"  
  
"Even if I hadn't, I would have known. I know you, Lor, and I always will."  
  
"I know you, too, Chris."  
  
"Yeah. That's why I'm here right now." Christopher wrapped his arms around Lorelai's waist, making it hard for her to walk.  
  
"Chris!" Lorelai laughed. She turned around to face him and twisted her arms around his neck. "I love you," she whispered.  
  
"I love you, too, you crazy woman."  
  
"Ha! You're the one who's crazy." Lorelai untangled herself, grabbed his hand and they started walking towards Rory and Paris.  
  
"Says the woman who screamed 'Chad!' in the Florida capitol building."  
  
"Hey, if you love someone, you forgive their past transgressions."  
  
"And I forgived you for the Corey Hart song."  
  
"Yeah, well I forgived you for the whole Corey Hart _and_ Corey Feldman obsession."  
  
"I wasn't obsessed."  
  
"You saw The Lost Boys twenty times!" Lorelai exclaimed, laughing.  
  
  
  
~~~~  
  
  
  
"I can't believe your parents are here," Paris muttered to Rory.  
  
"We can't let her near any government officials."  
  
"Why?"  
  
"Just trust me."  
  
"Oh, my god, Rory, you have to send them home!"  
  
"No, I don't. Don't worry about it, we'll just make sure my dad keeps her occupied tonight, and since tomorrow's our free day, we'll do all the touristy things. I'll just have to keep her away from anything pertaining to the government."  
  
"In Washington, D.C?"  
  
"Yeah."  
  
Paris just stared at Rory with a look of disbelief.  
  
"What? I can do it."  
  
"That's what you think." Paris muttered as Chris and Lor walked up to the girls.  
  
"Rory!" Lorelai exclaimed.  
  
"Mom!" Rory hugged her mother. "I haven't seen you for what, a week?"  
  
"It feels like a month!"  
  
"Don't even pay attention to dear old dad."  
  
"Oh, shush, Christopher." Lorelai said.  
  
"Hey, Dad." Rory exchanged one parent's hug for the other's. Paris just rolled her eyes and walked off.  
  
  
  
~~~~  
  
  
  
"Okay, so we have to see the reflecting pool from Forrest Gump, the stairs from The Exorcist...and something else. Ooh, what was it? Oh, I remember!! The bar from St. Elmo's Fire!" Lorelai exclaimed the next day as mom, dad, and daughter started wandering around Washington D.C.  
  
"The fictitious bar?" Rory asked.  
  
"Oh, my darling daughter, nothing is fictitous in my life!"  
  
"And everything revolves around you!" Rory imitated her mother.  
  
"That sounds about right," Christopher commented as Lorelai's cell phone rang.  
  
"Uh, the man I love is supposed to be nice!" Lorelai swatted Chris on his shoulder while digging through her purse with her other hand.  
  
"Key words: supposed to."  
  
"You're rude."  
  
"I learned from the best."  
  
Lorelai stuck her tongue out at Chris and answered her phone. "Hello? Sookie?" Lorelai held up one finger and walked away from father and daughter to a bench.  
  
"So, how are you doing?" Christopher asked Rory.  
  
"Good. I've missed both of you."  
  
"Even crazy chad lady over there?"  
  
"Yes, even her. So...are you staying?"  
  
"Yeah, I think I am. I love her and she loves me."  
  
"Did she say that?"  
  
"Yeah," Chris smiled and nodded.  
  
"Did you get it in writing? If I were you, I'd get it in writing."  
  
"No. You'll just have to be my witness."  
  
"I can do that."  
  
  
  
"Sookie, what are you talking about?" Lorelai sat fifty feet away on a bench, trying to understand Sookie on the other end of her cell phone.  
  
"I'm telling you, Luke is jealous of Christopher!" Sookie was talking on the phone in the inn's kitchen.  
  
"What? That makes no sense."  
  
"Yes it does, it makes perfect sense!"  
  
"No, Sookie. Why would Luke be jealous of Chris? He doesn't like me like that."  
  
"Yes, he does! He's in love with you. It completely fits!"  
  
"Look, just because you're married doesn't mean you have to get me married, and besides," Lorelai looked away from Christopher and whispered into the phone, "if I do get married, Chris is the most likely candidate."  
  
"But if he isn't, Luke's a good guy too!"  
  
"Sookie, you're crazy. I'm going to hang up the phone so you can get back to your beloved kitchen, husband, and...if you insist on matchmaking, match Luke up with someone else. I hear Miss Patty's free!"  
  
"Hmm, that's probably not a good idea."  
  
"Aw, he could be her Mike Todd!"  
  
"What?"  
  
"Never mind. Talk to you later."  
  
"Bye!" Sookie hung up the phone and started humming "Matchmaker, Matchmaker" from The Fiddler on the Roof. 


	6. Pink

Title: Always You  
Chapter 6: Pink  
  
This was originally slated to be a Lorelai and Christopher for the ages, forever and ever! But now...who knows? I certainly don't. I have no idea what's going to happen.  
  
The road trip is over and they've been home for a few weeks as of this chapter.  
  
  
  
~~~  
  
  
  
"So what are you doing today?" Dean asked.  
  
"Oh, we've got a dinner with some of the members of Congress later." Rory answered.  
  
"Sounds...intelectually stimulating."  
  
"I'm sure it will be. How about you? What are you doing?"  
  
"Oh, I'm going to a Cubs game this afternoon. And we've got great seats, right on the first baseline."  
  
"You sound really excited."   
  
"I am. It's gonna be great."  
  
"Well, I am very happy for you. And for me, cause you're doing it in Chicago and I'm in Washington."  
  
"Yeah, I bet you are."  
  
"And I'm also happy cause I get to see you in a week."  
  
"Yeah, I'm happy about that too. I miss you."  
  
"Oh, I miss _you_."  
  
"If you start making kissy noises into the phone, I'm going to hurl." Paris said from the desk, where she was working on her notes.  
  
"Okay, I think I've gotta go before Paris murders me with her pen." Rory said into the phone.  
  
"How?" Dean asked.  
  
"Very painfully."  
  
"Ooh. Okay. Love you."  
  
"Love you, too."  
  
"Bye."  
  
"Bye. See you in a week!" Rory hung up the phone and lifted herself off the bed. She walked towards Paris and looked over her shoulder.  
  
"What the hell are you doing?"  
  
"Nothing. Sorry." Rory retrieved her binder from one side of the desk and headed back to the bed. She sprawled on her stomach and opened her binder to the first page.  
  
_Dear Jess,_  
  
The words taunted her. She'd written them five weeks ago, after her first letter to Dean. She still couldn't finish the thought. What else was she supposed to write?  
  
  
  
~~~~  
  
  
  
"Someone called for you." Michel said to Lorelai, who was sitting at the table in the inn's kitchen, drinking coffee and watching Sookie work.  
  
"Who is it?"  
  
"How should I know?"  
  
"Man or woman?"  
  
"I cannot be sure. It sounded like a man but for all I know it could have been one of those men who dresses like a woman."  
  
"A cross-dresser?" Sookie asked.  
  
"Yes, that is the word. It could have been a cross-dresser." Michel said to Lorelai.  
  
"Was it Christopher?"  
  
"I don't know; perhaps if you answer the phone and ask who it is they might respond with a name."  
  
"Why can't you do that?"  
  
"It isn't in my job description."  
  
"Hand me the phone."  
  
"I do not have it."  
  
"Well go get it and bring it back."  
  
"Again, not in my job description." Michel turned and walked out of the kitchen. Lorelai rolled her eyes at Sookie and followed him to the desk, where he pointed to the phone, which someone had hung up.  
  
"Michel! Someone hung up the phone!"  
  
"Oh, no. You shall have to just wait by the phone until they call back. You shouldn't recive personal calls at work, anyway."  
  
"You know, I'd hit you if I didn't think you'd go all cat-fight on me."  
  
"The French do not cat-fight."  
  
"Well, then, how do they fight?"  
  
"Civilized--with words."  
  
"I thought they fought with foils."  
  
"That is fencing."  
  
"Well, don't the French fence during their fights?"  
  
"No. And if they did, you do not fence during a fight; you fence during a duel."  
  
"Well, tomorrow I'll bring some tin foil and we'll duel, okay?"  
  
"Once again, I am ignoring you."  
  
The phone rang.  
  
"And the phone."  
  
Lorelai sighed and answered the phone. "Independence Inn."  
  
"Lorelai, come back in the kitchen; I'm bored."  
  
"Sure, Sookie." Lorelai hung up the phone and walked back into the kitchen. Sookie was stirring something at the stove and talking into her cell phone, held at her ear by one of her sous-chefs. "Hey, Sookie."  
  
"Oh, hey. You can hang up the phone now."  
  
The sous-chef nodded and hung up the cell phone, dropping it into Sookie's purse.  
  
"So what were you saying earlier about you and Chris and me and Jackson?"  
  
"Hmm? Oh, well, we were thinking that you guys could come over and we could have a movie night."  
  
"That sounds great. When?"  
  
"Would tonight be too soon?"  
  
"Actually, I don't think so."  
  
"Cool!"  
  
"Well, first I need to ask Jackson. About what time?"  
  
"Well, I was thinking you guys could come over around seven and we'd have dinner."  
  
"I'll cook."  
  
"Oh, no, sweetie, you don't have to do that."  
  
"What were you planning on serving?"  
  
"Takeout?"  
  
"Yeah, so I'll come home with you at six and cook, and then we can let Jackson and Christopher come over and seven."  
  
"Or, or--and this is great--we could meet at Luke's at seven, eat, Jackson and Chris could go get the movies, we could go get the candy, and then we'd walk back to whichever house we felt like and watch the movies."  
  
"That sounds like it could work."  
  
"Ha! Caffiene-inflicted intelligence strikes again!"  
  
  
  
~~~~  
  
  
  
"So we're meeting back up right here in ten minutes?" Jackson asked later that night.  
  
"Fifteen; we're getting junk food, after all." Lorelai answered.  
  
"Okay, fifteen." Jackson said.  
  
"And we're getting which movies?" Christopher asked.  
  
"Billy Wilder tribute. You get to choose which Billy Wilder, though." Sookie responded.  
  
"Which two." Lorelai added.  
  
"So we're getting two Billy Wilder movies?" Chris asked just to make sure.  
  
"And meeting back here in fifteen minutes." Jackson said with confidence.  
  
"Right." Lorelai nodded.  
  
"See you soon!" Sookie waved, and the four headed off in opposite directions. At the video store, Christopher and Jackson split up. They decided they were each going to find one Billy Wilder movie. Sookie and Lorelai split up in Doose's. Sookie got the frozen foods, and anything she needed to cook whatever magical food she was planning on making in between movies, while Lorelai got the chocolate, marshmallows, etc.  
  
Jackson and Christopher met at the counter after five minutes, Jackson with The Apartment; Christopher, Some Like It Hot.  
  
Sookie spent fifteen minutes looking for ingredients to make her heavenly chocolate little tart thingies, that just float in your mouth.  
  
Lorelai bought bags and bags of candy, walking down almost all of the aisles in the small market. She was throwing Reese's bites into her basket when she turned onto another aisle and one product caught her eye. Pregnancy tests. She looked around and, not seeing anyone, reached to pick one up. Her hand hit the cardboard and she jumped and looked around again. Still, no one. She picked up the box and brought it closer to her. She turned it around and started to read the accuracy.  
  
"Lorelai?"  
  
She jumped and the box went into her basket. "Sookie!" she exclaimed, sweeping a few of the packs of pads next to her into her basket on top of the tell-tale test. "Are you ready to go?"  
  
"Yeah. Were you looking at the pr--"  
  
"Did you get all of the ingredients for your heaven-like tart things?" Lorelai interrupted, steering her best friend out of the feminine hygiene aisle.  
  
"Uh, yeah."  
  
"Well, then, let's go! It's time for us to meet our men in front of Luke's!"  
  
  
  
~~~~  
  
  
  
After The Apartment, Jackson and Christopher were watching old episodes of "Soap" on TVLand, so Lorelai walked into her kitchen where Sookie was putting the finishing touches on the midnight snack.  
  
"Sookie, I have to tell you something."  
  
Sookie silently continued her work, turning to face her friend. She had a feeling she knew what was coming.   
  
"I think I'm pregnant."  
  
And there it was. The bomb. The news that could mean either good things or bad things. Sookie wondered which this was.  
  
"The thing is, I think I really want to be pregnant. I mean, really."  
  
"Then what's the problem?" Sookie asked gently.  
  
"I'm just worried about how this'll affect my relationships. You know, with Rory, and Christopher, and...my parents. What are my parents going to think?" Lorelai covered her face with her hands and groaned. Sookie walked over and placed a hand on Lorelai's back.  
  
"Oh, sweetie. It doesn't matter what they think. What matters is what you think, and you think you'll be happy, right?"  
  
Lorelai moved her hands down so she could see Sookie. She sighed and nodded.  
  
"Well, then, that's all you need."   
  
"But what about Chris and Ror?"  
  
"They'll be thrilled! And if they're not, then you'll just have to cross that bridge...es, when you get to it."  
  
"That bridges?" Lorelai finally brought the hands completely down from her face.  
  
"Yeah. I guess that doesn't make any sense, huh?"  
  
"Nope, that makes no senses."  
  
"Oh, stop making fun. Let's go watch Marilyn."  
  
"Oh, that's right, Some Like It Hot. I love that movie."  
  
"I know, me too. Here." Sookie handed Lorelai a chocolate tart. Lorelai stuffed it in her mouth.  
  
"Oh, my God, it's like a taste of heaven."  
  
"I know," Sookie giggled and they walked back into the living room.  
  
  
  
~~~~  
  
  
  
Sookie and Jackson left after the end of the movie, Sookie "forgetting" the rest of her chocolate tarts in the refrigerator. Christopher and Lorelai retreated to bed not long after that, but Lorelai was restless, so she waited until she was sure Chris was well on his way to La-La Land--dream induced instead of alcohol induced--and slipped from under his arm. She crept downstairs, narrowly missing a rolling-kitty induced fall, and made her way to the kitchen. She quietly pulled open the refrigerator and pulled out the Doose's market bag that held Sookie's present. She placed the bag on the table and then got a fork from a drawer. She sat down and started looking through the bag. She pulled out a plastic take-out box, laid it on the table, and started pushing the bag away when she realized there was still something else in it. She dug through and retrieved the small cardboard box she'd bought earlier, with a note on the top from Sookie.  
  
_Take this and call me with the results as soon as possible!!   
Enjoy the chocolate tarts.   
Sookie_  
  
Lorelai smiled and opened the plastic take-out box. She popped a tart into her mouth and turned the box over. Making her mind up, she got up from the table and walked into the bathroom. A minute later, she was standing near the door, staring at the little plastic stick perched on the edge of the sink. She felt a sense of deja vu, except this time, instead of wishing the stick would end up blue, she felt herself hoping almost against her will that it was pink. 


	7. And Again With The Government!

Title: Always You  
Chapter 7: And Again With The Government!  
  
Well, I got absolutely no reviews. I don't know whether that's good or bad. I also don't know whether anyone is even reading this story anymore. That makes me sad. And kinda mad. I'm smad! Sorry. Now I'm stealing my lines from Sookie. I loved her in this week's episode, though. "I'm a whore!" It was wonderful. Anyway, here's the story.  
  
I am so smad about the whole no-reviews-so-I-don't-know-whether-or-not-I'm-writing-crap thing, I wrote another chapter to a story I haven't looked at for, oh, about forever. _Life As I Know It_. Starts when Lorelai's fifteen and not pregnant, and continue's until she's thirty-two with a sixteen-year-old. Well, it will. And plugging that story to get reviews probably won't work here, because apparently no one is reading this!!! AGH!!! I'M SO SMAD!!!!  
  
Here's the story.  
  
  
  
~~~~  
  
  
  
Lorelai paced around the bathroom for another two minutes. When the timer rang--funny. This was the same timer she'd used the last pregnancy test she'd taken, eighteen years ago. Wow, eighteen. Rory was almost eighteen. Lorelai sighed and walked the few steps to the edge of the sink. She lifted the plastic contraption. With her eyes closed, she shook the stick and breathed deeply a few times.  
  
In. Out. In. Out. In....  
  
Lorelai opened her eyes and immediately they focused on the tiny window. Purple. What the hell did purple mean? She picked up the box from the other edge of the sink. Pink means yes, blue means no, and purple means...what? "We haven't decided yet. We'll let you know soon?" Lorelai sighed disgustedly and threw the test in the trash can and the cardboard box on top of it. She was stupid to use the same brand she'd used the last time. She decided she'd buy a new test, a more accurate test, in the morning. She pulled a long strand of toilet paper off the roll and started ripping the individual sheets. She then crumpled the sheets into balls and threw them on top of the stupid test. She threw the last sheet and walked out of the bathroom, flipping the light off as she went. She put up her remaining tarts of heaven in the refrigerator, threw the non-used fork into the already full sink, flipped off that light, and started upstairs. She crawled underneath Christopher's arm.  
  
"I want a baby," she whispered.  
  
"Okay," he whispered back, holding her tight against him. "Goodnight, Sugar."  
  
Lorelai smiled at the reference from Some Like It Hot. "Goodnight, Daphne."  
  
Christopher chuckled and kissed her hair.  
  
  
  
~~~~  
  
  
  
"I'm going home tomorrow, I'm going home tomorrow," Rory said sing-song into the phone.  
  
"I know, I know," Lane said sing-song back.  
  
"I'm just so excited!"  
  
"I bet you are. Six weeks without your mom, your best friend, or Mr. Perfect."  
  
"Well, he would have left me anyway."  
  
"Stupid boyfriend. Has to go and visit his grandmother."  
  
"Yes, I agree. But anyway, enough about my boyfriend and his family obligations. I need to ask you a favor."  
  
"Gossip?"   
  
"Yeah, how'd you know?"  
  
"It's Stars Hollow. You don't want to be out of touch."  
  
"Exactly."  
  
"Okay, somebody left a banana peel on Taylor's front stoop, and he slipped and fell and is now in an electric wheelchair."  
  
"No way!"  
  
"Yeah. It was actually a few days ago; your mom hasn't told you yet?"  
  
"No, she's been kind of weird the past few days."  
  
"Huh. Okay."  
  
"Have you seen them around town the last few days? My mom and dad, I mean."  
  
"Yeah, I have. They were the resident couple at movie night two days ago."  
  
"Okay. Good."  
  
"Lorelai didn't tell you about Taylor?"  
  
"Nope."  
  
"That's weird."  
  
"More gossip!"  
  
  
  
~~~~  
  
  
  
"Lor?" Chris called as he entered the house. Upstairs in the attic, Lorelai froze.  
  
"Come on, I know you're here! The annoying French guy at the inn said you came home!"  
  
Lorelai silently cursed Michel, vowed she'd fire him tomorrow, and called out, "Attic!" She heard Christopher's footsteps on the stairs, and then his head popped up.  
  
"Hey! What are you doing up here?"  
  
"Nothing. Just pulling some stuff out of storage."  
  
"Yeah? Like what?" Christopher walked completely into the attic and sat down next to Lorelai.  
  
Lorelai's eyes lit up and she pulled something out of her pocket. She looked at it and then back at Chris. "I've been carrying this around for days," she explained. After one final look, she handed over the plastic stick. Chris looked down at the pregnancy test in his hand and the plus sign in the little window.  
  
"Wha--does this mean what I think it means?"  
  
Lorelai nodded, a huge smile on her face. "We're pregnant!"  
  
"Oh, my God!" Chris stood up and hit his head on the sloping roof. "Ah!" He sat back down and pulled Lorelai into a hug. "This is great news!"  
  
"I'm glad you think so."  
  
"Of course I do. It means I can give you this." Chris took something out of his pocket and stared at it for a minute. "I've also been carrying this around for days." He opened it and turned it around to face Lorelai. He watched as she took in the modest diamond set in a white gold band. Her face looked shocked, and then surprised, and finally, delirously happy.  
  
"Does this mean what I think it means?"  
  
Chris nodded, a huge smile on his face. "Will you marry me?"  
  
"Oh, my God! Yes!" Lorelai threw her arms around Christopher again. "This is a wonderful day."  
  
"And Rory's coming home tomorrow afternoon."  
  
"And we have our first doctor's appointment tomorrow morning."  
  
"We do?" Chris asked.  
  
"Yeah, ten. I figure we leave here at nine, get to the doctor's office early, leave by ten-thirty, and go to the airport and wait for Rory."  
  
"That's like five hours early."  
  
"Which means we can waste time in the shops. I love airport shops."  
  
"Okay. We'll be early."  
  
"Yeah, we will!"  
  
  
  
~~~~  
  
  
  
"See? Since the ultrasound machine was broken and we had to spend two hours in an OB-GYN's office, it's already eleven, and we're only four hours early." Lorelai said in the car the next day as they drove from the doctor to the airport.  
  
"Yeah. The only downside is we had to spend two hours in an OB-GYN's office."  
  
"But look at the cute picture!" Lorelai showed one of the many copies of the sonogram picture to Christopher for the fiftieth time. He glanced at it and smiled.  
  
"Yeah, it is a cute picture."  
  
"_And_ we got a movie of our baby too! God, technology is so cool."  
  
"Yep. How far along did he say you were again?"  
  
"Seven weeks and three days."  
  
"And the due date is...?"  
  
"Febuary 11. Three days before Valentine's Day!" Lorelai said giddily.  
  
"Great. That's wonderful."  
  
"I know!"  
  
An hour and a half later, they were wandering through a souvenier shop.  
  
"Everything says Hartford on it." Lorelai complained.  
  
"Gee, imagine that. Now, what town are we in, again?"  
  
"Ha, ha. Very funny. Ooh, a Hartford, Connecticut shot glass!"  
  
"Just perfect for our seventeen-year-old daughter."  
  
"Oh, she won't _use_ it. I might."  
  
"Not with a baby."  
  
"Ugh, I don't want a baby anymore."  
  
"Too late."  
  
"Hey, let's strike up a deal. How about, you carry the baby this time, and deal with the morning sickness, swollen ankles, intense back pain, and no alcohol rule, while I sit back and drink margaritas."  
  
"Because we're in Mexico?"  
  
"No, just Texas. Hey, maybe if I drink enough and start smoking pot without inhaling, I can be president!"  
  
"Won't work."  
  
"Oh, why not?" Lorelai pouted.  
  
"Well, first of all, you have had no extra-marital affairs--"  
  
"That can wait till after I'm in office."  
  
"Oh, right. But your dad hasn't been a president and can't help you out."  
  
"He can be. I haven't moved to Texas yet."  
  
"How are you going to drink enough alcohol and smoke enough pot to be smart enough to be president?"  
  
"Yeah, I guess you can't really lose that many brain cells in one lifetime."  
  
"Yeah. So I guess you'll just have to stay pregnant."  
  
"Ugh. Stupid president."  
  
"I agree. But hey. Maybe I'll be nice and not drink while you're pregnant."  
  
"You'd do that for me?"  
  
"Sure. Besides, being the only drinker in the house really dampens the whole drinking games."  
  
"Ah. Real motives exposed."  
  
Another hour and a half later, they were sitting in chairs near the security check-ins. Bomb/drug-sniffing dogs were patrolling the row of metal detectors, pulling government workers along behind them.  
  
"Give me the gummi bears you bought," Lorelai said to Chris, sticking her hand out.  
  
"Why?" he asked, already digging through his bags to find them.  
  
"You see that cute dog over there?"  
  
"The cute police dog?" Chris asked incredulously.  
  
"Yeah, the cute police dog. He's sitting there all alone and he looks hungry."  
  
Chris, who had just found the gummi bears, hesitated before handing them to Lor. "You're gonna feed gummi bears to an extremely overweight police dog."  
  
"Shush! It's not overweight. Give me the bears." She grabbed the package from him and started creeping towards the dog, sitting all by itself. "Here, doggy doggy doggy doggy. Here, doggy." Lorelai crept under the table the dog was sitting by. "Here, you want some gummi bears? Here, have some gummi bears." Lorelai poured some into her hand and extended it towards the dog. He lapped them up quickly and looked at her with his puppy-dog eyes for more. "Aww, you're such a cutie." She poured more into one hand, petting him with the other. Suddenly someone behind her cleared his throat. She looked and saw a large security guard with a nasty look on his face crouching near her. "Uh, hi. Jim and I here were just getting to know each other."  
  
"Lor? What happened?" Chris asked as she walked towards him a minute later, prodded by the security guard's hand on her shoulder.  
  
"They're very touchy about their dogs." Lor said as she was released and slightly pushed towards Chris.  
  
"I told you not to do that."  
  
"Well, Jim was very nice," she defended herself as they started walking away from the security check-ins.  
  
"Jim?"  
  
"The dog. Jim Belushi was in that movie, K-9, I think, about the policeman and his dog."  
  
"Ahh. I see the connection."  
  
Another hour later, they were standing near the television screens proclaiming departures and arrivals, Lorelai bouncing up and down on the balls of her feet.  
  
"She's almost here, she's almost here, she's almost here!"  
  
"Yes, she is, yes, she is, yes, she is!" Chris mocked her.  
  
"Is that her? Is that her? Oh, I think that's her!"  
  
"Great!"  
  
"Gilmore!" Lorelai yelled, running towards Rory, ignoring Christopher completely.  
  
"Mom!" Rory yelled, running towards Lorelai. They met in a hug somewhere in the middle, but both the force with which they hit and the combined weight of their bags caused them to topple over and sink into a sitting position on the floor. By the time Chris caught up with them, Lorelai was already showing off the shot glass.  
  
"Oh, cool," Rory announced. Lorelai gazed up at Chris with a look that plainly said 'ha, ha, I'm right again!' in a sing-song voice. Only Lorelai could have a look with a sing-song voice.  
  
"Hey, look who's back," Chris said to his daughter, ignoring Lorelai and her look.  
  
"Dad!" Rory tried to get up, but her bag and Lorelai pushing her knees toward the floor kept her down.  
  
"That's okay. I'll join you." Christopher sat down next to the girls.  
  
"Oh, great, now we'll never get up." Lorelai groaned.  
  
"So did your mother tell you the news?"  
  
"News? No. What news?" Rory looked at her mother.  
  
"First you tell her what you asked me." Lor said to Chris. He nodded and pointed to Lorelai's finger.  
  
"I asked her to marry me."  
  
"And you said yes?" Rory asked. When her mother nodded, she shrieked. "Oh, my God! That's great!" Rory leaned across her and her mother's bags and squeezed Lorelai.  
  
"Yes, it is. The other news is...show her the picture."  
  
"You have the picture."  
  
"No, I don't. You have all of them."  
  
"But I thought I gave it to you."  
  
"They're in your purse."  
  
"Oh, okay." Lorelai started searching through her bags and then turned to Christopher. "You have the bag with my purse in it."  
  
"Oh, yeah." Chris searched through his bags and finally extracted Lorelai's purse. She snatched it from him and started digging through it. Rory just watched all of this with an entertained smile on her face. "A-ha!" Lorelai raised the small pile of pictures in the air and then shoved them at Rory. "That's your baby brother or sister."  
  
"Oh." Rory nodded. And then it hit her. "Really?" She looked between her mother and father, once again with huge smiles on their faces. They both nodded and she shrieked for the second time in the few minutes she'd been home. "Ahhh! I'm never leaving again!" Rory threw her arms around both of her parents.  
  
"Okay," Lorelai and Christopher both agreed.  
  
  
  
~~~~  
  
  
  
A/N: Just in case you haven't already figured it out, I'm a democrat like Lorelai and Rory. Now, Dubya's our prez, but since we live in America I don't have to like him. As a matter of fact, earlier this year in a paper for a national contest I called him a 'dumb hick from Texas who cheated his way into the Oval Office.' I didn't win. 


	8. Those Lazy Hazy Crazy Days

Title: Always You  
Chapter 8: Those Lazy Hazy Crazy Days  
  
A/N: Hee, I'm all caught up! Okay, so starting now, the chapters will begin to slightly mirror the episodes of season three, but not everything...for instance, Rory is going to continue to be with Dean for a little while (I don't know how long; I'm trying to decide the effect that Lor and Chris' brand-new relationship will have on Rory), but Lorelai is not going to go out with Peyton or Alex (sorry, no pool fishing, and it looks like Jayne Mansfeld isn't gonna visit our favorite girls' bathtub), and Christopher is certainly not going to show up in the second episode and cause a major argument. There might _be_ an argument in the next chapter, just to keep with the story, but still, I don't know yet. If anyone has any ideas....  
  
Disclaimer: So now I really don't own anything. I'm probably gonna pull some dialogue directly from the show, so if anything sounds familiar, that's why.  
  
Oh yeah: picks up pretty much where the last one left off. They're in Stars Hollow, getting ready to visit the town insanity center. Oh, wait...  
  
  
  
~~~~  
  
  
  
"So I figure we'll drop your stuff off, go pick up Sookie and Jackson, and head over to the festival." Lorelai was saying as she, Christopher, and Rory walked up the stairs toward their house.  
  
"That sounds great," Christopher said, grunting as he lifted one of Rory's suitcases up the steps.  
  
"What about dinner? Aren't Grandma and Grandpa back?"  
  
"Yeah, well, I kinda told them something to get you out of it." Lorelai, the only one not weighed down with Rory's traveling books (and a few clothes) held open the front door.  
  
"Oh, really? What?" Rory finally let her suitcase drop inches inside the door.  
  
"I said you weren't coming back till tomorrow."  
  
"So a big fat lie."  
  
"Yeah, but hey, I'll tell 'em I'm pregnant again, and then I'll tell them the truth. They'll never remember you were here a day earlier. And you get some Peaches and Herb time with Dean." Lorelai pointed out.  
  
"_Reunited and it feels so good_," Christopher sang.  
  
Rory smiled and started pushing her suitcases into her room. Chris smiled at Lorelai, and she smiled at his closed mouth. And then he started again.  
  
"_Oh, yes, we're reunited and it feels so good_."  
  
  
  
~~~~  
  
  
  
"Ooh, fancy," Lorelai said minutes later as Rory stepped from her room in a knee-length dress. "You know, you'll get a chance to change before Dean gets here in--" Lor grabbed Chris' wrist and looked at his watch. "two hours."  
  
"I know, I just figured I'd look all nice when I greet my town again."  
  
"Aww. That was the lamest excuse I have ever heard."  
  
"Well, I've been without you for six weeks. I'm suffering from withdrawal."  
  
"But that's some ultra-good butt kissing! Come on, let's go make fun of Taylor. He slipped on a banana peel, you know. In front of his _house_!" Lorelai giggled and they all stepped out of the house.  
  
A few minutes later, they were emerging from behind some big bushy tree things, Lorelai's shortcut to Sookie's house. She'd also found a shortcut to Al's that took an entire forty seconds off their route! Even with Chris there, she'd been bored out of her mind with Rory gone, although he did accompany her on many of the shortcut finding adventures--he was the holder of the stopwatch.  
  
"I can't wait to see Sookie again. Does she look different, being married?"  
  
"Mmm, no, not really. Then again, I've seen her every day since she got back."  
  
"We've been eating breakfast there," Chris explained to Rory. Rory nodded and they walked up to the house and opened the door. Lorelai poked her head in first, but after witnessing what she figured to be the beginning of a major fight, she gestured for them to leave and they did.  
  
Another couple of minutes later, they were finally back in the center of town. Taylor's 'big city band' was singing away--a song by "Cole Porter," Chris speculated. Lorelai just speculated that if they didn't learn a new song soon, she was going to be throwing popcorn, candy and beer at them and seeing how lazy-hazy-crazy their summer days would be then. They started bickering playfully, not paying attention to where they were going, so when Rory stopped suddenly, Lorelai ran into her and Chris ran into _her_. They were all piled up like that, daughter, mother, father, when Lorelai and Christopher realized what Rory was staring at. Jess was backed up against a tree, and a slutty blonde was devouring him slowly--starting with his mouth.  
  
"He's got his 'what I did this summer' essay all researched and ready to go. Dodged a bullet there, didn't ya, Ror?"  
  
"What do you mean?" Rory asked.   
  
"Yeah, what _do_ you mean? Is that--is that the guy?" Chris pointed at Jess. Lorelai shushed him.  
  
"Look, why don't you go get us some cotton candy." Lorelai started pushing Chris away from Rory, who still stood dumbstruck, staring at Jess.  
  
"That is him. Am I right? Is that the guy who broke her arm?"  
  
"Shh!" Lor glanced back at Rory. "Yeah," she softly answered, nodding.  
  
"Oh, I'm gonna kill him!" Chris started towards Jess, but Lor grabbed his arm and pushed him away.  
  
"Go get food. I've gotta talk to Ror."  
  
"Not before I kill 'im."  
  
"Yes, before you kill him. Now go get me and Rory some cotton candy."  
  
"But--"  
  
"Now," Lorelai said firmly. Christopher turned, defeated, and walked away. Lorelai waited until she saw him get stopped by Miss Patty, and then she walked back up to Rory, who was still staring at Jess.  
  
"Oh, God!"  
  
"What is it?"  
  
"It's that!"  
  
"Jess?"  
  
"Yes!"  
  
"You're upset about Jess?"  
  
"I said yes."  
  
"Yes, it's Jess?"  
  
"You're not being funny."  
  
"It's not my fault that yes and Jess rhyme. Did I exploit the opportunity, of course I did, but...Rory, come on. I know you had this crush--"  
  
"It wasn't a crush." Rory said defensively.  
  
"Well, whatever it was, I thought it was over. I mean, you haven't talked to him since--"  
  
"Sookie's wedding." Rory sighed and interrupted her mother.  
  
"Wha--You, uh, you talked to him at Sookie's wedding?"  
  
"Yes."  
  
"Oh, let's not get started on that again. This doesn't make any sense. He wasn't at Sookie's wedding."  
  
"Yes, he was. He had just come back and he came to see me."  
  
"Okay, so he crashed Sookie's wedding, and...  
  
"And nothing. He told me that he was back in town, that he'd moved back, and..."  
  
"That's not a good pause. What is it? Rory, come on."  
  
"And we kissed, okay?" Rory finally said the words. They sounded so strange coming from her lips, talking about Jess, to both girls.  
  
"You kissed?"  
  
"Yes."  
  
"Again with the yes! Forget everything you heard in _Miss Congeniality_, be normal and say yeah for once in your life!"  
  
"Fine! Yeah."  
  
"So, you kissed? Like...you kissed?"  
  
"Yes--yeah."  
  
"Okay, that's interesting. Who kissed who?"  
  
"What does that matter?"  
  
"Oh, it matters. Trust me.Well, did he kiss you, did you kiss each other, did you trip and your faces accidentally--"  
  
"I kissed him." Rory interrupted again.  
  
"Oh...kay."  
  
"And I don't know, I thought he came back here because he liked me or something, and I kissed him and he kissed me back, and now he's over there and I feel so stupid and...that girl isn't even his type and--"  
  
"Rory--what are you doing?"  
  
"What do you mean, what am I doing? I'm ranting. You should recognize this, I learned it from you."  
  
"True, but, I mean, you went to Sookie's wedding with--with Dean."  
  
"I know."  
  
"And you were so sweet, and couple-y, and then you ran off to have some thing with Jess."  
  
"Wait--it was a kiss, not a thing."  
  
"A kiss _is_ a thing."  
  
"Well, it wasn't planned, it just happened."  
  
"God, I can't believe it. All this time I'm thinking, 'She's with Dean.'"   
  
"I _am_ with Dean."  
  
"No, Rory--kissing another guy is not being with Dean. Ask him, I bet he'd back me up on that."  
  
"It was nothing. _Nothing_."  
  
"Well, then why are you so freaked out?"  
  
"I'm not freaked out."  
  
"Oh, you so are. Look, kid, you have gotta make up your mind. Jess, Dean, Jess, Dean, on-again, off-again, on-again, off-again--it's enough already. If you want Jess, that's fine--go get him, there he is. If you think that's the great love of your life, then great...grab a liver treat and a squeaky toy and run to him. Don't worry about that girl because I'm sure he will have moved onto somebody else in about an hour. But do something. Dean has been sweet and supportive and incredibly patient, and now you are officially treating him like dirt, and I'm sorry, but not only is that not you, he doesn't deserve that."  
  
Rory sighed. "I know all of this about Dean.  
  
"You do? You really do?"  
  
"Yeah, I do. I know how great he is. I knew it before you did!"  
  
Well, knowing this has apparently not stopped you from dragging his heart all over this town."  
  
"Not fair!"  
  
"Yes, fair, the fairest, the Snow White of fair."  
  
"I don't wanna talk to you about this anymore."  
  
"Okay. Just--listen, if you don't wanna be with Dean anymore, cut him loose. Let him find someone who does because this is just so...wrong! So horribly wrong!"  
  
"All right, I get it! Just stop!" Rory and Lorelai glared at each other for a second. Suddenly--  
  
"Rory! Hey!" Dean walked across the street and hugged Rory.  
  
"Hi." Rory said awkwardly over his shoulder.  
  
"Hi, Dean," Lorelai said. Christopher walked up with two cones of cotton candy.  
  
"Here." he shoved a cone at Lorelai.  
  
"Why, thank you. Look who it is!"  
  
"Oh, hey Dean. Thank God you're here, instead of that o--Ow!" Chris said as Lorelai jabbed him in the ribs.  
  
"What?" Dean asked, confused.  
  
"Oh, nothing. Come on, Chris, dinner with the parents."  
  
"Do you have--" Dean asked Rory.  
  
"No, she's off this time. You guys have all night to...talk. Glad to have you back, Dean."  
  
"Thanks."  
  
"Chris, give the girl her cotton candy. Let's go."  
  
"Nice to see you again, Dean," Chris said as he was pushed away by Lorelai. Rory just barely managed to grab her cotton candy before it was out of reach.  
  
  
  
~~~~  
  
  
  
Half-an-hour later, Lorelai and Christopher were climbing out of the Volvo in front of the elder Gilmore residence.  
  
"Wow." Chris said as he slammed the driver's side door. "She kissed him?"  
  
"Yeah, but don't say anything about it. And don't kill him, either. If she does have a crush on him, she certainly won't appreciate it."  
  
"Of course not. That's something you don't tell your dad."  
  
"Are you mad?"  
  
"No, I really get it. I understand, I really do." Chris rang the doorbell.   
  
"Really?"  
  
"Really." Chris smiled and leaned in to kiss Lorelai.  
  
"Lorelai, nice to see you. Christopher!" Emily pulled open the door seconds before they kissed. "How wonderful to see you again. And so unexpected!"  
  
"Oh, Mom, hi. Sorry we're late." Lorelai said as she and Chris walked into the house.  
  
"Oh, don't worry. I see why you were late. Richard! You'll never guess who's here!"  
  
"Never?" Lorelai asked.  
  
"So, Christopher, how are things going with you?" Emily ignored her daughter.  
  
"They're great, Emily, and you?"  
  
"Oh, just wonderful. Richard!"  
  
"Calm down, Emily, I'm right here. I might need to make another phone call, though. Ben Stellen and I got cut off."  
  
"Ben Stiller? Did he recite some of _Zoolander_ and you missed the ending?" Lorelai joked. Richard and Emily stared at her. "Uh, joke, it's a joke."  
  
"All right." Richard said. "Oh, Christopher, I didn't see you there. How are you?"  
  
"Great, great," Chris said as he shook Richard's hand. "You?"  
  
"Oh, good as usual."  
  
"All right, well, let's go outside." Emily started trying to herd everyone to the back of the house.  
  
"Already? We just came inside." Chris joked.  
  
"Oh, Christopher!" Emily laughed.  
  
"Whoa...surreal. Actually, Mom, I've got something to tell you. Well, we've got something to tell you."  
  
"Oh, that can wait until we get outside. Let's go!"  
  
"Oh, no, it--"  
  
Emily walked away, Richard followed her, and Chris shrugged.  
  
"Come on, we'll tell them out there." he said, touching her arm and steering her after her parents.  
  
"But I don't wanna!" Lor whined.  
  
"Come, come, come, sit, sit, sit," Emily said as Lor and Chris walked outside. They obliged. "So, what's your news?"  
  
"Oh, well--"  
  
"Oh, wait, we brought something back for you from Martha's Vineyard." Emily picked up a bag and handed it to Lorelai.  
  
"Okay..."  
  
"Open it, open it!"  
  
"All right." Lorelai opened the bag. "Scone mix, wow."  
  
"This new little place opened right down the road from our house and they make these wonderful scones, and that is their mix so you can make them right in your own kitchen!"  
  
"Well, thank you. I will put this on my counter and stare at it for many years to come."  
  
"You're not going to make them?"  
  
"Oh, I'm not really good at cooking."  
  
"Neither am I," Christopher spoke up.  
  
"But Rory would love them!"  
  
"Okay, fine, you know what, we'll go straight home and make the scones. But right now, I have something to tell you."  
  
"Fine, go ahead, talk, we're listening."   
  
"Um, okay, well, um...hey, Chris, you wanna take over?"  
  
"Okay. Um. Well, it's something really big."  
  
"Christopher, we brought you a captain's hat. It's wonderful. Richard, where'd we put it?"  
  
"Mom, pay attention. This is really big."  
  
"What is it, Lorelai?" Richard asked.  
  
"You're breaking up." Emily stated.  
  
"What?" Chris asked.  
  
"No! No, Mom. We're pregnant."  
  
"What?" Emily repeated Chris' word from moments before.  
  
"Yeah, she's pregnant."  
  
"You're having another child?" Richard asked. Lor and Chris nodded, and Richard smiled. "Well, I think that's wonderful. Congratulations."  
  
"Are you getting married?" Emily asked.  
  
"Well, actually," Chris started. He grabbed Lorelai's hand, squeezed it, and smiled at her.  
  
"Oh, that's wonderful news! Oh! I just remembered something. I'll be right back." Emily stood up and walked off. Richard shrugged in response to Lorelai's look of confusion, and Christopher stood up and fixed sodas for Lorelai and himself. "Here it is!" Emily announced, returning with a small square envelope.  
  
"What's that?" Lorelai asked, taking a sip of her soda.   
  
"Oh, no. Emily, don't," Richard protested, recognizing the paper.  
  
"Oh, relax, I'm just going to show it to them."  
  
"Emily, they're not going to appreciate it."  
  
"Relax, Richard."  
  
"Don't show it to them! They don't want to see it."  
  
"No, no, now I really do wanna see it." Lorelai said.  
  
"Don't say I didn't warn you," Richard said in an almost sing-song voice.  
  
"I can handle it," Lorelai assured her father, reaching her hand towards her mother for the card. Emily happily handed it over, and Lorelai slipped a card out of the envelope. "We cordially invite you? What is this?" Lorelai opened the card. "Mr. and Mrs. Richard Gilmore and Mr. and Mrs. Straub Hayden cordially invite you to the joining of their children, Lorelai Victoria Gilmore and Christopher James Hayden in Holy Matrimony?!" Lorelai read the invitation aloud, her voice rising with each word until she was yelling. "What the hell is this?"  
  
"It's your wedding invitation."   
  
"The date's March eleventh, eighty-four," Chris observed over Lorelai's shoulder.   
  
"Yes, well, it's the wedding invitation I had printed up when I learned you were pregnant the first time."  
  
"What? Mom, this is crazy."  
  
"I told you they wouldn't like it," Richard said from behind his glass.  
  
"Oh, shut up, Richard."  
  
"Emily, why would you do this?" Christopher asked.  
  
"Because our daughter was pregnant. Our wonderful, smart, beautiful, _young_ daughter was pregnant. And unmarried. Without a marraige, the baby would have ruined your reputation. _Both_ of your reputations. And it did."  
  
"But if we'd gotten married it would have ruined both of our lives!" Lorelai exclaimed.  
  
"You don't know that!" Emily yelled.  
  
"Yes, I do! We were not in the same place eighteen years ago--now we are! God, I can't stand this."  
  
"Lor, it's okay," Chris rubbed her arm.  
  
"No, no, it's not okay, Chris! Our parents planned a wedding behind our backs."  
  
"I took no part in it." Richard protested.  
  
"Fine, then it was just Mom. Thanks a lot, Mom. Especially for telling me about this. Although I guess you were too busy telling me that I was horrible and worthless for getting pregnant. I can't handle this. I am going home to see my illegitimate daughter who ruined both her mother and her father's reputation. I'm leaving." Lorelai picked up her purse and stalked away, back through the house and to her car. Christopher shrugged and followed her. Richard looked at Emily, shook his head, and walked back into the house. 


	9. Haunted Leg

Title: Always You  
Chapter 9: Haunted Leg  
  
A/N: I'm going to do a 'Previously, on Gilmore Girls,' little thing; it's basically just to say what was in the former episode that I wasn't able to work into the chapter. It's just like it is on the show, little snippets of stuff that happened before. I might do it in every episode, but I dunno.  
  
Also, I really have no idea whether or not I should continue with the Dean/Rory/Jess thing as they have it on the show, or if her parent's relationship will affect her other relationships. I _do_ know, however, that it will eventually be a Rory/Jess, just like the show. If anyone has any wonderful ideas, if you could e-mail me at sami57peace2u@hotmail.com I would greatly appreciate it....or you could just e-mail me. I love getting e-mail!   
  
  
  
~~~~  
  
  
  
**Previously, on Gilmore Girls:**   
  
Lorelai and Christopher are in the Volvo in front of Luke's returning from their wonderful dinner.  
  
Lorelai: I'm just gonna get some coffee and then go for a walk. Can you take the car home?  
  
Chris nods.  
  
_Lorelai walks up to Luke behind the counter.  
  
Luke: We're closed.   
  
Lorelai: I know._  
  
Lorelai: Emily could never change, not for anything.   
  
_Luke: You're getting married?  
  
Lorelai: Maybe._  
  
Luke: You said, "the first time I was pregnant." Don't worry, I won't tell anyone.  
  
_Luke: Come again, Mimi.  
  
Lorelai: Thanks, I will. Seems like a very nice place._  
  
Rory and Lorelai are sitting on the couch in their living room.  
  
Rory: Yeah, there's still a Dean.  
  
_Christopher and Lorelai are laying in bed, Chris' arms wrapped around Lorelai. He's asleep, she's awake, and she's looking at her left hand and the ring._  
  
  
  
~~~~  
  
  
  
Lorelai stretched out on her couch a Saturday two weeks after the disastrous Friday dinner. She arranged the cushions around her head and picked up a nearby _People_ magazine. She sighed contentedly, when suddenly, as if someone had stuffed a huge wad of dust up her nose, she let loose with a huge sneeze.  
  
"Bless you," Christopher, walking down the stairs, said.  
  
"Ugh, I hate having a cold."  
  
Christopher sat on the couch next to Lorelai. "I know you do."  
  
"I mean, it's bad enough being sick, but anyone can have a cold."  
  
Rory entered from her room. "And that means you're not special."  
  
"Exactly. I'd like to have a good illness, something different, impressive. Just once I'd like to be able to say, 'Yeah, I'm not feeling so hot, my leg is haunted.'"  
  
"I'm guessing you're all out of TheraFlu." Chris said.  
  
"Yeah. And coffee."  
  
"All right. We'll be right back." Chris kissed Lorelai on the forehead.  
  
"Bye, Mom. We'll bring back some soup."  
  
"Chicken Noodle."  
  
Rory nodded.   
  
"Uh, why aren't you kissing me goodbye?"  
  
"Because I don't wanna get sick."  
  
"Your dad risked it."  
  
"Yeah, and he can't come crying to me in a week when he's sneezing his eyes out."  
  
"Ewww."  
  
"I know. See you later, Mom."  
  
"Bye, Lor."  
  
"Bye, Chris. Bye, Monk!" Lorelai called as they walked out of the house. Seconds before the door shut, Lorelai could hear Rory shouting, "Finally, I'm Tony Shalhoub, not Scary Spice!" Lorelai smiled and settled back into the cushions.  
  
  
  
~~~~  
  
  
  
Rory and Chris walked up to the diner at Luke's.  
  
"You know what you want?" Luke asked.  
  
"No," Rory answered.   
  
"Oh, come on, you get the same thing every time you come in here," Chris protested, his stomach growling almost audibly.  
  
"Exactly. Today I want to try something different."  
  
"Take your time." Luke walked off, and Rory continued staring at the menu. Chris looked around the diner and noticed a familiar, slutty-looking blonde coming through the door. She walked up to Jess, who was leaning against the other side of the counter, reading a book.  
  
"Hey." she proclaimed, standing directly in front of him. Chris got the distinct feeling that she would have stood in front of the book if she could, but she was slightly intimidated by it. Jess looked up.  
  
"Hey," he said, absolutely no expression showing. No smile or anything. He kissed Shane for a minute, and then she parted and looked at him impatiently.  
  
"So?" she asked, tapping her foot.  
  
"One sec," he returned to his book.  
  
"Jess." she protested, even more impatient.  
  
"Relax." He closed his book and turned toward his uncle. "I'm out." Back to his girlfriend. "Let's go."  
  
She smiled. "Okay." They walked out.  
  
"Ladies and gentlemen, a conversation in ten words or less," Rory muttered into the menu. Chris hadn't even realized she'd seen the conversation.   
  
"A true meeting of the minds." Chris agreed dryly. Then Dean walked up to the counter.  
  
"Hey, so don't hate me, but I already had breakfast."  
  
"See? Nice full sentences." Rory smiled and kissed Dean.  
  
"What?" he asked, confused. It wasn't often he was praised for having full sentences.  
  
"Never mind, it doesn't matter." Chris smiled.  
  
  
  
~~~~   
  
  
  
The following Monday, Chris and Rory forced Lorelai to get up, get dressed, and Rory walked her to the Inn. After making sure Sookie knew that Lorelai was supposed to stay at work all day, Rory left to spend her day with Lane, who had been forced into her room for the last remaining days before her senior year. Rory was the only person allowed to visit Lane, besides Reverend Melmin.  
  
"Sookie, I wanna go home!" Lorelai whined as she walked into the kitchen.  
  
"No." Sookie continued running around, cooking.  
  
"Yes."  
  
"Nope."  
  
"Ugh, fine. Oh, by the way, the Lasano's, party of five, want a vegetarian menu. Hey, I wonder if they're gonna bring Lacey Chabert?"  
  
"I thought you said you weren't going to let vegetarians in here anymore." Sookie stopped what she was doing.  
  
"No, _you_ said you weren't gonna let vegetarians in here anymore."  
  
"But I'm making my baked stuffed pork chops for tonight!"  
  
"Not for the Lasanos." Lorelai said as Michel walked into the kitchen.  
  
"There is someone here to see you."  
  
"Who?"  
  
"The one who works at every store in town and made my skin break out last week."  
  
"Ah, Kirk's here!" Lorelai exclaimed to Sookie as she followed Michel out of the kitchen.  
  
"Lorelai." Kirk walked up to her as soon as she walked into the lobby."  
  
"Hey, Kirk. What can I do ya for?"  
  
"Oh, I have a delivery for Sookie." Kirk held out a package to Lorelai. She took it.  
  
"Anything good?"  
  
"No, just some wedding photos."  
  
"Oh, great! Well, I'll take 'em to her. Right now, I promise. You can go."  
  
"No, that won't be necessary."  
  
"Uh...why not?"  
  
"Lorelai, can I talk to you for a moment?"  
  
"Oh, sure, because what we're doing now doesn't resemble that at all."  
  
"What?"  
  
"Nothing. Never mind. You wanna sit?" Lorelai gestured to a couch in the middle of the lobby, and Kirk sat down and breathed deeply a few times.  
  
"Uh, listen Lorelai, we've known each other for a good amount of time. Our, uh, paths have crossed socially and professionally a number of times, all with relatively pleasant results, and, well, I was wondering, if you would maybe, like to, kinda, sorta, have dinner, at some time, with me?"  
  
"Dinner." Lorelai stated simply, letting it sink in.  
  
"In two weeks."  
  
"Two weeks?"  
  
"I heard you have a cold, and I can't have a cold, because it would probably give Mother some rare disease that would cause me to stay home for weeks and weeks at a time, and I figure two weeks is enough time for the virus to work its way out of your system. And I know you're 'involved' with someone--" Kirk used air quotes. "But I've noticed that you usually split after a few months, with the exception of the teacher, but you did split after a number of months, and I'm giving you two weeks to break up with your 'boyfriend' and get completely well." Again, with the air quotes. Lorelai stared, trying to let it all sink in.  
  
"Uh, you don't have to answer right away. As a matter of fact, take your time." Kirk stood up and tried to leave. Lorelai called out.  
  
"Kirk, wait. I can't go out with you."  
  
"Sure you don't want to take a few more days to think it over?"  
  
"I'm sorry, but the guy I'm involved with now? Is the father of my daughter."  
  
"But...you split up with him before."  
  
"But now we're in the same place, and I think it could really work. And--I'm pregnant."  
  
"Oh. Okay." Kirk turned and ran out the door. Lorelai watched him go, and then mentally hit herself. She'd just told Kirk she was pregnant. _That_ was stupid.  
  
  
  
~~~~  
  
  
  
A week later, Rory was sleeping peacefully. Somewhere in the back of her mind someone said, "It's your first day of your last year of high school. GET UP!!!!" But luckily, that voice was very, very, soft, so Rory continued sleeping. Lorelai, however, shocked that her wonderful idea of shouting at her daughter had not worked, was sitting in Rory's armchair, watching her sleep. Chris walked in momentarily, handed Lorelai a cup of coffee, kissed her on the forehead, and headed off for an early meeting at work. Lorelai stared at Rory for a little while longer, and when she couldn't stand it, she tried tickling Rory's feet. It didn't work.  
  
"The girl could sleep through a train ramming past her bed." Lorelai muttered, sitting back in the chair. Then she got an idea, and when Rory woke up thirty minutes later, Lorelai was still in Rory's armchair, all dressed and ready for work, a big smile on her face.  
  
"How long have you been sitting there?" Rory asked as her eyes opened and landed on her crazy mother staring at her.  
  
"Not long. An hour...and a half."   
  
"Why?" Rory asked, sitting up.  
  
"Because."  
  
"Cause why?"   
  
"Because today is the last first day of high school you're ever gonna have."   
  
"You're insane." Rory climbed out of bed and started for the kitchen.  
  
"I'm not insane, I'm just sentimental, and you're grown."  
  
"I'm not grown," Rory protested.  
  
"Yes, you are, you're all grown up and soon you'll be going off into the world."  
  
"Not yet." Rory started making herself some coffee.  
  
"But soon. And after you spread those wings and fly away, I won't have a chance to give you this." And Lorelai handed her daughter a bill.   
  
  
  
~~~~  
  
  
  
Twenty or so minutes later, Lorelai and Rory were walking through town, headed for Luke's, for their annual first day of school breakfast. Well, it could hardly be called an annual breakfast. It was really more like a daily thing.  
  
So twenty minutes later the girls were walking towards Luke's for their daily breakfast ritual. They were busy talking, so neither girl noticed the town whispering and pointing at them. It became painfully obvious, though, when they walked into Luke's and the entire crowd went silent. The girls glanced around themselves at the strangely silent crowd.  
  
"Did we just walk into a Charlie Chaplin movie?" Lorelai whispered to Rory. Rory shook her head.  
  
"No campy piano music. Did we remember to wear pants this morning?"  
  
Lorelai glanced over their clothes. "Uh, yeah. I wonder what's going on?"  
  
"I dunno. Let's ask Luke, maybe he'll know," Rory suggested as they walked up to the counter.  
  
"Oh, Luke, cause he's always a fountain of town knowledge."  
  
Nevertheless, the girls made it to the counter, and Luke walked over with his order pad out.  
  
"What can I get ya?"  
  
"Uh, coffee." Lorelai said.  
  
"Pancakes." Rory added.  
  
"And some bacon."  
  
"Ooh, and scrambled eggs."  
  
"No, fried eggs. And some strawberries.  
  
"Okay, coming right up." Luke flipped the cover of his order pad back.  
  
"Wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait. Do you know why they're so quiet?" Lorelai whispered.  
  
"Uh, yeah, somehow they found out you were pregnant. I didn't tell anyone, I swear."   
  
"I know. I told Kirk yesterday."  
  
"What? Why the hell would you do that?" Luke asked.  
  
"Oh, cause he asked her out." Rory laughed.  
  
"Stop!"  
  
"I'm sorry, it's just...it's Kirk!" Rory burst into laughter. Even Luke let loose a few chuckles.  
  
"What?" he asked in response to Lorelai's look. "It is pretty funny."   
  
"Yeah, whatever. Just get me some coffee."  
  
  
  
~~~~  
  
  
  
Later that day, Rory was standing next to Christopher in the hallway at Chilton, looking at her watch. Lorelai ran up.  
  
"Time, time, time?"  
  
"3:01." Rory proclaimed.  
  
"Ah, no fair, ah man, stupid traffic lights. Even Christopher got here before me!"   
  
"'S okay, doesn't start till 3:15."  
  
"But I so tried to...you lied to me."  
  
"Did I?" Rory feigned innocence.  
  
"You said it was at three, and it's at three-fifteen."  
  
"Well, I guess I did." Rory shrugged at Chris. "Who knew?"  
  
"Don't feel too bad, Lor, she told me 2:45."  
  
"And what time'd you get here?"  
  
"Two fifty-five."  
  
"Yeah, well, that I understand. I was only a minute late for my deadline--you were ten minutes late."  
  
"I got caught up."  
  
"You work, like, a second away from here. How are you late?"  
  
Rory was sworn in as student body vice president that afternoon, with her mother, father, and grandmother in the audience. Later, Emily asked to go to lunch with Lorelai one afternoon, perhaps at Luke's Diner that Lorelai seemed to like so much. She reluctantly went, and was subjected to an afternoon of her mother trying to plan Lorelai's upcoming nuptials with Christopher. Emily suggested sooner, rather than later, so she wouldn't be showing. Lorelai protested that she'd be showing in mere weeks, and not much was settled. Rory's first week as VP went off with only a few hitches, and the town of Stars Hollow eventually stopped whispering behind Lorelai's back and actually walking up to her and stating their opinions. Before long, it was Friday once again, and mother, father, and daughter arrived at house of grandmother and grandfather, only grandfather was away on business. Emily spent the first half hour gushing over wedding plans, and as they were all settling down to dinner, the subject of invitations arose.  
  
"Obviously you don't wish for the type of invitations I showed you before." Emily said.  
  
"The type of invitations for the wedding planned without the consent of the bride _or_ groom? No, I don't."  
  
"But it wasn't planned entirely without consent."  
  
"If you consented, it doesn't matter, Mom. You weren't going to be the one getting married."  
  
"Actually, Lorelai, I was talking about Christopher."   
  
"What?"  
  
"Yes, Christopher consented. He was fully supportive of the entire idea."  
  
"What?" Lorelai asked more sharply, turning away from her mother and towards Chris. He meekly nodded.  
  
"Yeah, I knew about it."  
  
"Oh, my God! I can't believe this."  
  
"But, I ended up not going through with it, cause you were so against it."  
  
"You planned my wedding without me?"  
  
"Yeah."  
  
"Why the hell would you do that?"  
  
"It seemed like a good idea. We could live together, our baby could have a normal life, normal mom and dad."   
  
"Were you not where I was seventeen years ago? Because I remember hating my life, I didn't care that my parents were together."  
  
"But we could have been happy."  
  
"No, there's no way we could have been happy. We were too young...we would have been miserable. Think about it, do you really think that if you'd gotten married at seventeen you'd be where you are now? That'd be like if Rory got married and pregnant now. Which you are not doing, by the way," Lorelai pointed a finger at her daughter, who nodded.  
  
"Well, I mean, life would have been _different_." Chris said slowly.  
  
"Yeah, way different! You'd be working either for my dad or yours, at a job you would hate, I wouldn't be working at all. I'd probably be a member of D.A.R. and spend my weekdays sitting around with my friends, drinking booze and trying to plan the best way to ruin my daughter's life."  
  
"I don't appreciate that, Lorelai," Emily spoke up.  
  
"Well, I don't appreciate this. God, I can't believe you were planning my life--our lives--without us! We wouldn't have been the only ones affected, Chris, Rory would be affected too."  
  
"You don't think I know that? You don't think I thought about that? We didn't go through with it, did we? No, we didn't. And that's one of the reasons. I just wanted us to be happy." Chris reached for Lorelai's hands. She pulled away from him and stood up, throwing her napkin on the table.   
  
"You know what? I don't want to look at you right now. Either one of you," Lorelai added, looking at her mother. "I'm going to call a cab, and my daughter and I are going home."  
  
"She's my daughter, too."  
  
"I know. Rory?"  
  
All three of the adults looked at the teenage girl. She shrunk slightly under their gaze, and then slowly stood up, depositing her napkin near her plate.  
  
"Sorry. Bye." Rory kissed her father, and then her grandmother, on the cheek, and followed her mother out of the house.  
  
  
  
~~~~  
  
  
  
"Fun evening," Rory commented as the taxi dropped them off in Stars Hollow.  
  
"Just charming. I haven't had that much fun since labor."  
  
"Ba-dum-dum."  
  
"But seriously, ladies and gentlemen, is this thing on?"  
  
"I can't believe he did that."  
  
"I can't believe I never knew."  
  
"I'm starving."  
  
"Really? Could it be cause dinner sucked?"  
  
"Could be."  
  
"Let's do mac and cheese!"  
  
"And tator tots."  
  
"And those little pizza rolls, cause how else are you gonna stick a pizza in a toaster?"  
  
"Exactly!"  
  
"Okay, let's be organized--make it fast, make it snappy, and if there's any impulse buying, make it chocolate."  
  
"Aye, aye, cap'n."  
  
"Careful, Scotty might beam you up." Lorelai and Rory, who had been walking through their entire conversation, stopped in front of Doose's and turned to go in.  
  
"Yoo-hoo, Lorelai, baby doll!" Babette called from down the street.  
  
"Oh, great." Lorelai groaned. "Go on in," she gestured towards the market.  
  
"Are you sure?"  
  
"Hey, if I can't handle a little gossip and interrogation, what the hell am I doing in Stars Hollow, right?"  
  
"Right. Good luck." Rory turned and walked into the market, leaving her mother alone to deal with the blonde gossiper from hell. She searched for the objects on their mental list, and had found most of them when she turned down an aisle for her impulse buying and spotted Jess.  
  
"Doing a little shopping?"  
  
"Yes. Excuse me." Rory walked past Jess into the aisle.  
  
"Why the cold shoulder?"  
  
"No cold shoulder, I just have a pregnant lady outside who's really impatient when it comes to chocolate."  
  
"How was Washington?" Jess asked, refusing to let Rory shop and forget he was there.  
  
"Fine."  
  
"Do anything interesting?"  
  
"Nope."  
  
"Okay."  
  
Rory waited a few seconds, until she couldn't stand it anymore. "What about you?"  
  
"What about me?" Jess asked, turning back around to face her again.  
  
"Anything interesting happen? This summer, I mean."  
  
"Nope. Biggest news is that Lorelai Gilmore has a relationship that lasted longer than two months. There's an entire pool as to when they're splitting up. My bet's October eighth."  
  
"My birthday?"   
  
"That's your birthday? Huh. What a coincidence."  
  
"She's pregnant, you know."  
  
"Obviously didn't stop him before."  
  
Rory let out a puff of air and turned around, focusing on a bag of Hershey's Hugs.  
  
"Her name's Shane," Jess said after a while, softer than he'd been talking.  
  
"As in 'come back'?"  
  
"Yup."  
  
"Well, that's great. Really. It's great. Really great."  
  
"So I've heard."  
  
"Well, it is."  
  
"Are you upset about something?"  
  
"No....Yes." Rory turned to face Jess again.  
  
"What?" he asked after a minute. Rory just shook her head, never taking her eyes from his. She walked one step closer, and then another, and then another, and then she was kissing him, for the second time. And it felt just as good, and just as wonderful as it had before. Suddenly she realized what she was doing, and detached herself.  
  
"Oh, dear God." And she turned and bolted. 


	10. Application Anxiety

Title: Always You  
Chapter 10: Application Anxiety  
  
A/N: Okay, like, two people reviewed. Now, I know that I'm very pressure...able, or whatever, but anyway, I like reviews and I'm not completely sure what the sex of L/C's baby is gonna be, and I'm not sure what J/R's relationship is gonna be like, and blah de blah blah. Anyway, the gist is--just review, you lovely people, you would not believe what that e-mail from 'bot@fanfiction.net' does to me...I, like, fly outta my chair and stuff. Anyway....  
  
Oh, yeah, and I cannot write fights. I'm bad at fights. They're hard. Forgive me for the lame fights. Thanks.  
  
  
  
~~~~  
  
  
  
"This is sublime," Rory said, pointing at the television screen.  
  
"It was the golden age of television." Lorelai agreed.  
  
The girls were sitting on the floor of the living room, next to the couch, watching an episode of _The Brady Bunch Variety Show_ the Saturday a week after Lorelai's argument with Christopher and Rory's kiss with Jess. Lorelai hadn't talked to Chris since that Friday, and Rory had avoided both telling her mother about the kiss and Jess himself, as well.  
  
"You know, your dad had the biggest crush on Jan," Lorelai said almost contemplatively.  
  
"The real one or the singing one?"  
  
"The singing one. That's when he got his guitar. He figured if he learned some songs and got really good, he could get her to sing for him."  
  
"Never worked, huh?"  
  
"Are you kidding? He was horrible."  
  
"You should call him."  
  
"Not yet."  
  
"It's been a week."  
  
"When was the last time you talked to any boys?" Lorelai shot back.  
  
"Boy, I love those booty-shaking Bradys." Rory turned back to the TV.  
  
"That's what I thought."  
  
Meanwhile, Eddie, the mailman, was starting up the Gilmores' walkway when a strange man jumped in front of him.  
  
"Give this to Lorelai," Chris said breathlessly, shoving a package on top of the mail in Eddie's hand.  
  
"Why?" the mailman asked suspiciously. "It's not a bomb, is it?"  
  
"No, it's not a bomb. And besides, mail bombs don't work unless you put them in the mailbox."  
  
"Oh, so you've done this before?"  
  
"What? No, I--I didn't mean _that_, I just meant--"  
  
"Just meant what? You're planning on putting one of these little suckers in the mailbox next week, and you're trying it out to see if it'll work on these poor girls?"  
  
"No! Look, I'm...I'm Christopher. I--"  
  
"Oh! Christopher! So good to meet you!" Eddie shook a shocked Chris' hand. "Why aren't you just giving this to Lorelai yourself?"  
  
"We're kinda having a fight right now." Chris said reluctantly.   
  
"Oh! What's the matter?" Eddie asked, genuinely concerned.  
  
"No--nothing. Just give this to Lor. I have a feeling it'll help."  
  
"Oh. Okay, sure. Anything for Lorelai."  
  
"Thanks."  
  
"No problem." Eddie smiled and continued towards the door. Chris watched as he went inside the house, deposited the mail, and exited the house, giving Chris a thumbs-up as he continued to Babette and Morey's. Chris walked up the stairs and slowly walked across the porch toward the door, debating whether or not to go in.  
  
"Get the mail, Rory."  
  
"But I'm younger, and I haven't seen this episode yet."  
  
"Fine." Lorelai pouted and stood up. "But eventually you won't be able to use that excuse, especially if we continue with our television habits."  
  
"Well, I'll just have to cross that bridge when I come to it."  
  
"And don't ask me to help you. I'll be old and decrepit by then."  
  
"You'll never be old and decrepit."  
  
"Wow, you're getting a lot faster with your responses."  
  
"Lotsa practice."  
  
Lorelai smiled and glanced at the package on top of the pile as she carried it over to the table next to the couch. She dropped the rest of the mail down and ripped into the package addressed to her.  
  
"Oh, my God."  
  
"What?"  
  
"I can't believe it."  
  
"What?" Rory asked again, getting up from the floor and walking over to her mother.  
  
"Look what he did," Lorelai whispered reverently, holding up the contents of the package for Rory to see.  
  
"Animal crackers?" Rory asked incredulously. "Who sent you animal crackers?"   
  
"Chris." Lorelai answered happily, holding a box to her chest.  
  
"Hey, there's an envelope in here," Rory observed, reaching into the box for the small white pocket of paper.  
  
"Hmm. I wonder what it is," Lorelai snatched the envelope from Rory's hand and opened it. Out slipped three tickets and a note. Lorelai gasped. "Look at the tickets! Look at the tickets!"  
  
"The Go-go's," Rory nodded appreciatively.  
  
"The Go-go's! The Go-go's! I love the Go-go's!" Lorelai jumped up and down on the balls of her feet.  
  
"I know! And I bet Dad knows it too!" Rory imitated her mother.  
  
"Oh, do you think he does?" Lorelai stopped jumping.  
  
"I dunno, open the note and see." Rory stopped jumping also and thrust the note towards her mother.  
  
"Okay!" Lorelai squealed and started reading the small slip of paper. Her smile got bigger and suddenly she headed for the front door and threw it open. Chris, surprised that Lorelai had actually opened the door, stopped his pacing and turned to her.  
  
"So, uh--"  
  
Lorelai threw her arms around his neck and planted a huge kiss on him. Rory smiled, and then glanced back at the mail.  
  
"Oh, my God." she moaned, pulling a large white envelope from under the cardboard package.  
  
"What?" Lorelai and Christopher asked, breaking the kiss.  
  
"It's here."  
  
"What's here?" Chris asked as he and Lorelai walked over to their daughter.  
  
"My application to Harvard."  
  
"Oh, my God. It's beautiful," Lorelai said.  
  
"Impressive letter H, huh?" Rory asked.  
  
"Oh, yeah." Chris agreed.  
  
"It's so...hhhhhhh." Lorelai voiced.  
  
"Very," Rory agreed.  
  
"Can I hold it?" Lorelai asked.  
  
"Be careful," Rory warned, placing the letter gingerly into her mother's outstretched hands. Lorelai slowly moved it up and down.  
  
"Oh, it's heavy."   
  
"Heavy with importance," Chris clarified. Then he glanced at the television set. "Oh, you know, I used to have a crush on her?"  
  
"What?" Rory asked, looking up. "Oh, geez. Let the record show that when my application to Harvard arrived we were watching _The Brady Bunch Variety Hour_."  
  
"You don't lose points for that, do you?" Lor asked worriedly.  
  
"I hope not. Man, this morning I was reading Dead Souls--it couldn't have come then?"  
  
"We'll just tell people that's what you were doing and I was...studying a really big globe! Don't worry, sweets, they'll never know."  
  
"And Dad?" Rory gestured to Chris.  
  
"We'll just tell people he was sneaking around in the bushes."  
  
"So, the truth," Chris smiled.  
  
"Exactly."  
  
"Dead Souls, a really big globe, and sneaking in the bushes." Rory clarified.  
  
"Deal. Ooh, kayaks!"   
  
  
  
~~~~  
  
  
  
"I have a doctor's appointment in an hour. Well, we do," Lorelai said to Christopher twenty minutes later, during the credits of _The Brady Bunch Variety Hour_.  
  
"We do?"  
  
"Yes, we do. Rory, you get to stay, but the man who got me in trouble _twice_ has to go with me to one of the most boring doctor's appointments of all time."  
  
"You're too good to me," Rory smiled.  
  
"I know." Lorelai smiled back. "Okay, Chris, let's go."  
  
"Wha--now?"  
  
"Yes, wha-now. Let's go!" Lorelai pulled Christopher's arm and led him out the front door. Chris threw a look to Rory, who just smiled and waved him away. Rory stayed on the floor for a second, and then she pushed herself up and walked into her room.  
  
"Look, is this okay?" Lane asked, shoving a yellow notepad into Rory's hand.  
  
"Huh, let's see--'Drummer with strong beat seeks band into the Accelerators, the Adolescents, the Adverts, Agent Orange, the Angelic Upstarts, the Agnostic Front, Ash...' You went alphabetically."  
  
"Seemed tidy."  
  
"And a little long."  
  
"I can't make cuts." Lane said frantically.  
  
"It's three pages, single spaced--make cuts."  
  
"But this _is_ the cut-down version. I mean, just from the letter A, I excluded AC/DC, the Animals, and A-Ha, footnoted as a guilty pleasure."  
  
"Hey, if I can't get through it, no one can."  
  
"Okay." Lane nodded, already trying to figure out which bands to cut.   
  
"Okay."   
  
"I'll try to make cuts, but no guarantees."  
  
"All I ask is that you try."  
  
"All right," Lane nodded and sat back down at Rory's desk. Rory settled on her bed with her Harvard application.  
  
  
**

Personal Information:

  
  


State your full name and nickname, if any

  
  
**Lorelai Leigh Gilmore   
nickname: Rory  
  
**

Parental Information:

  
  
Mother:** Lorelai Victoria Gilmore  
  
**Father:**Christopher James Hayden  
  
**

Personal Statement:

  
  
You can evaluate a significant experience that's had an impact on you or you can write about a person who has had a significant influence on you.**  
  
  
  
"Okay, I just crunched the numbers," Lane turned to Rory with a desperate look on her face. "And at two thousand words and twenty-five cents a word, this stupid ad's gonna cost five hundred dollars! That's five months worth of Minwaxing end tables at my mom's store. I give up."  
  
"No, no, don't give up. Just cut down your influences to the most important ones, like with David Bowie."  
  
"Gotta have Bowie."  
  
"True, but do you have to list every album he ever recorded plus your personal rating between one to ten?"  
  
"Maybe not." Lane wavered slightly.  
  
"And what's with Jackson Browne making the list?"  
  
"Ah, see, cool people know that he's more than a mellow hippie-dippy folkie, that he actually wrote some of Nico's best songs and was in fact her lover before he bored us with 'Doctor My Eyes.' That will separate the poseurs from the non-poseurs." Lane rattled off excitedly.  
  
"Wax on, wax off." Rory reminded.  
  
"I hate this." Lane sighed and returned to her list.  
  
Rory returned to the application for all of two seconds when Lane turned back around, this time holding a CD in her hand.  
  
"I'm going to have to crank the Ramones if I have to make deep cuts."   
  
Rory nodded, and as the Ramones started blaring in her ears, she picked up the large packet of papers and headed out the back door.  
  
  
  
~~~~  
  
  
  
"So, she's meeting the two of you here?" Emily asked that Friday evening of Chris and Lor, as Rory was still at school.  
  
"Yeah, she had a thing after school, a rumble or something. She said she'd be over after." Lorelai answered. Chris smiled.  
  
"A rumble?" Emily asked incredulously.  
  
"Yeah, a bunch of kids meet in an alley, they pirouette, they pull knives, it's a whole to-do." Lor explained a scene from _West Side Story_. Emily shook her head, as Christopher shook with silent laughter.  
  
"So she's meeting you here?" Emily asked.  
  
"Yes, she's meeting us here. Where's Dad?" Lorelai asked.  
  
"The magazines." Emily walked away.  
  
"That was weird." Chris said.  
  
"Hmm, and unresponsive." Lorelai nodded.  
  
The couple sat in silence for awhile, until Lorelai looked wistfully at the alcoholic beverages.  
  
"No booze." Chris scolded.  
  
"Awww. But--"  
  
"No. You heard what the doctor said."  
  
"All doctors are quacks, you know that."  
  
"No booze."  
  
"Meanie."  
  
Emily walked back in with a stack of magazines. "These are college issues of various magazines. I'm been collecting these for a couple of months now."  
  
"Oh, it's the colege talk. Run!" Lorelai whispered.  
  
"Shh." Chris laughed.  
  
"Hello?" Rory called from the front hallway.   
  
"Uh, we're in here honey, and hurry! It's the college lecture!"  
  
"Oh, Lorelai, don't be ridiculous," Emily said.  
  
"Uh-huh, I'm always the ridiculous one."   
  
"Hi, Grandma," Rory announced as she walked into the room.  
  
"Hello, Rory." Emily greeted her granddaughter.  
  
"Oh, Mom, did you tell Grandma about your latest doctor's visit?"  
  
"Oh, good, sweetie, remind her that I'm pregnant."  
  
"I remembered, Lorelai, I'm not a horrible mother."  
  
"Ah, ha, ha. Yeah, I guess not."   
  
"So...?" Emily asked.  
  
"Oh, nothing really. I'm a week away from the end of my second trimester, I guess, is the biggest news."  
  
"And that means?" Emily prompted.   
  
"It means she's almost out of the throwing up stage." Chris explained.  
  
"Ah. Almost out of the 'oh, Mom, I can only have animal crackers, it's the only thing the baby will let me eat!' phase."  
  
"Yes, almost out of that phase. Hey, Chris, speaking of animal crackers, ya got any of those? I'm feeling slightly nauseous."  
  
"It's nauseated," Rory corrected.  
  
"Yeah, thanks, Josie Grossie. All I want are animal crackers!"  
  
  
  
~~~~  
  
  
  
The telephone rang for about the twentieth time at the Gilmore-Hayden homestead, and Lorelai picked it up--again, for about the twentieth time. Lane's ad for a band was sparking lots of attention, and since Mama Kim would collapse and die if she ever heard anything about Lane and rock and roll, the calls were coming through Lorelai's phone.  
  
"Hello? No, Lane should be here any minute. Is this about the ad? Well, uh, give me your number and she'll call you back Okay, then, what's the number of the dude whose couch you're sleeping on? Uh! Dude doesn't have a phone? Well, try back later, dude. Thanks." Lorelai groaned disgustedly and hung up the phone. "Rory, are you up? If not, get up!" Lorelai called from her seat at the kitchen table. The phone rang again. "Lane, where are you?" Lorelai asked the air. She answered the phone again. "Hello? No, she's not, may I take a message?"  
  
Lane walked in through the back door, steps away from Lorelai. "Sorry!" she apologized.  
  
"Wait, here she is," Lorelai said to the guy on the phone before holding it out to Lane.  
  
"This is Lane," she walked into the living room.  
  
Lorelai got up from the table and started searching through her cabinets. "Ugh! Where are the animal crackers?" she exclaimed as Rory walked out of her bedroom. "Oh, what's wrong?"  
  
"Nothing, I just didn't sleep well."  
  
"Aw, poor baby. Wanna go get some coffee and animal crackers?"  
  
"Uh...no."  
  
"Okay, fine, you don't have to get animal crackers, you can just settle for the coffee."  
  
"Uh, no, thank you."  
  
"And did you do something that would cause us to avoid Luke's? Because the last time I did anything, you made me go in and talk to him."  
  
"Yes, but it still took you months before you were friends again."  
  
"Yeah, now he just refuses to give me coffee from time to time. But this is about you! What'd you do?"  
  
"Nothing."  
  
"Uh! Come on, what what what what? Tell the pregnant lady some nice little juicy tidbits, or else I'll go postal worker on you, cause you know I'm all out of animal crackers."  
  
"Yes, I know!"  
  
"What'd you do?" Lorelai asked impatiently.  
  
"Nothing!"  
  
Lorelai pouted and Rory turned her gaze away from her mother and focused on a swirl in the wood of the table. Lorelai suddenly gasped.  
  
"You kissed Jess again!"  
  
"What?"  
  
"You did, I know you did, and that's why don't wanna go to Luke's! Oh, why didn't you tell me?"  
  
"Uh...I dunno."  
  
"Did you?"  
  
"Yeah," Rory admitted sheepishly.  
  
"Oh, what are you gonna do? You have to tell Dean!"  
  
"I know," Rory agreed, her eyes still focused on the swirl in the wood.  
  
"But first we gotta go get some coffee. You don't have to talk to Jess, or look at Jess, or think about Jess. You just have to say, 'coffee! Coffee for my wonderful mother!'" Lorelai said in a high voice.  
  
"Only if you never talk like that again."  
  
"Ooh, that I can't promise. Ya know, hormones."  
  
Rory nodded.  
  
  
  
~~~~  
  
  
  
As the girls walked up to Luke's diner, Rory faltered.  
  
"I don't wanna go, please don't make me go," she pleaded, tugging on her mother's arm.  
  
"You have to do it eventually," Lorelai pointed out.  
  
"I know, just...not now."  
  
Lorelai looked at the pleading look on Rory's face, and after a minute's deliberation, she finally nodded. "We'll get animal crackers first, and then we'll stop for coffee, so you don't have to go yet, _but_ we will go in a few minutes, so steel your nerves. Actually, you know what helps for steel nerves? Coffee."   
  
"Animal crackers first," Rory insisted, pulling her mother away from the diner.  
  
"Okay. Here we go to Doose's!" Lorelai exclaimed, heading into the market. Rory followed her, but stopped when she noticed Dean through the window.   
  
"Hey, Mom?" Rory said quietly. Lorelai turned and noticed Rory's face, and then she followed Rory's gaze.  
  
"Oh. You wanna stay out here?" Lorelai asked quietly after she noticed Dean. Rory nodded. "Okay. Hey, why don't you go sit in the gazebo--I'll be right out. Anything you want? Chocolate? Ice cream? Animal crackers?"  
  
"No, nothing. Thanks, Mom."  
  
"Sure, sweetie." Lorelai kissed Rory on the forehead and entered the market. Rory crossed her arms in front of her chest and started walking towards the gazebo. Her mind was racing with a million thoughts, and she didn't know which one to address first. She knew that no matter what she was going to have to talk to Dean. Things had been different lately--hell, things had been different for a while: weeks, months even. Rory wasn't sure how she felt about Jess. She'd kissed him, not once, but twice. And they had been damn good kisses too. Rory sighed. Jess...or Dean? Jess or Dean? Jess or--  
  
"Hey!"  
  
"Dean!" Rory exclaimed, turning to face Dean as he walked up the stairs of the gazebo. "Hey!"  
  
"I saw your mom in the market, and I was looking for you," Dean explained as he sat next to Rory. "Why didn't you come in?"  
  
"Oh, I just didn't feel like it."  
  
"You didn't wanna come see me?"  
  
"No--no, that's not it. I just...felt like staying outside."  
  
"Needed some fresh-air, huh?"  
  
"Yeah, to...clear my head."   
  
"Hmm," Dean placed his arms around Rory's waist. "Anything important in that now clear head of yours?"  
  
"Yeah," Rory started, unhooking his arms from around her waist and moving them away. "But I don't want to talk about it now. My mom's coming. Can you stop by the house at seven, maybe?"  
  
"Uh, sure, I guess so."  
  
"Okay, great." Rory leaned in to kiss Dean on the lips, but stopped at the last second and smacked her lips on his cheek. "See you then."  
  
"Bye," Dean called as Rory flew down the steps and towards her mother. She turned around and waved slightly, and then ran up to Lorelai.  
  
"Didja talk to him?" Lorelai gestured at Dean, still sitting in the gazebo.  
  
"Not yet." Rory shook her head. "Tonight."  
  
"Before or after the movie?"  
  
"Before, I guess."   
  
"Hmm. You think we could get him to change the water before he goes?"  
  
"Mom, that's what Dad's for."  
  
"Oh, _that's_ what Chris is for. Didn't realize that. Huh. Okay, let's go. Coffee." Lorelai started pulling Rory's arm in the direction of the diner.  
  
"Uh, not yet, please."  
  
"Oh, come on! Taylor just paid me five dollars to go bug Luke about a black cow."  
  
"Black cow?"  
  
"Root beer float. And I gotta tell him that the ice cream has to be made on the premises."  
  
"Okay, well, why don't you do that, and I'll...go home and wait for Dad to come home."  
  
"He's not supposed to get home for another couple of hours."  
  
"Yeah, well--he's gonna be home eventually, and we don't want him to come home to an empty house."  
  
"Uh-uh, you're coming with me. Come on, we gotta screw with Luke's head. It'll be fun!"  
  
"Do I have to?"  
  
"Yes. I'm making you."  
  
"Oh, I don't want to!"  
  
"Oh, but you have to!" Lorelai imitated Rory's tone. "Come _on_!" She pulled Rory into the diner and walked up to Luke behind the counter. Rory glanced around nervously, and then breathed a sigh of relief when she realized Jess wasn't there. "Hey, Luke!" Lorelai exclaimed, pulling Rory out of her stupor.  
  
"Oh, no." Luke groaned. "I'm not giving you coffee."  
  
"That's okay, I don't want any."  
  
"Oh, really? What do you want?"  
  
"A black cow."  
  
"A what?"  
  
"A black cow."  
  
"What the hell's a black cow?"  
  
"It's just root beer and ice cream."  
  
"Root beer and ice cream?"  
  
"Uh, yeah."  
  
"I can do that."  
  
"As long as the ice cream's made the old-fashioned way--on the premises."  
  
"Now, wait a minute."  
  
"What? It's a crazy pregnancy thing."  
  
"I don't make ice cream in my diner. I buy it."  
  
"Crazy pregnancy thing!" Lorelai exclaimed as Kirk walked up to the counter.  
  
"Hey, Luke, can you whip something up in a hurry?"  
  
"What, Kirk?"  
  
"A chocolate phosphate."  
  
"Okay, now, what the hell is this? Why do you want a phosphate?"  
  
"Because nothing says refreshment like a phosphate." Lorelai recited. Luke sighed.   
  
"This is Taylor, right? Is he behind this?"  
  
"I'm...not at liberty to say." Kirk said.  
  
"Lorelai?" Luke turned to her.  
  
"It's a crazy pregnancy thing!" she exclaimed again. Luke shook his head and walked out of the diner. Lorelai smiled at Rory and high-fived Kirk.  
  
  
  
~~~~  
  
  
  
Later that day, Lorelai and Rory were sitting on the couch watching television. A girl was being greeted by her parents with hugs and tears, and Lorelai pointed to the screen.  
  
"I've always wanted to do that."  
  
"Greet your long-lost daughter with hugs and kisses and tears?"  
  
"Exactly. And then I'll get to be on Lifetime--"  
  
"Television for women," the girls recited together.  
  
"Hey!" Chris greeted as he walked into the house. "Guess who I actually had a very productive conversation with today? Headmaster Charleston."  
  
"You're kidding." Lorelai gasped.   
  
"No, and I think we came up with the solution to your application anxiety, you wanna hear it?" Chris turned to Rory.  
  
"Uh, I guess." Rory shrugged.  
  
"Oh, come on, sweetie, listen. It could be a good idea. Whoa, did I just say that?" Lorelai asked. Chris smiled.  
  
"Well, we spent the first ten minutes on him bugging me to volunteer for stuff at school, or in lieu of that to make a donation to build the new basketball court, and then another couple of minutes of me convincing him that what sounded like me going 'Ha!' was really me clearing my throat, but after that we had a very pleasant, productive conversation."  
  
"And?" Rory prompted.  
  
"He suggested setting up a meeting with a Harvard graduate, like a dinner or something. He even gave me the number of someone he knows."  
  
"An alumni dinner?" Rory asked.  
  
"Yes, exactly." Chris nodded and sat on the couch.  
  
"Do they do that?" Rory turned to Lorelai. She shrugged.  
  
"Actually, according to Charleston, it's done all the time."  
  
"Wow." Rory said.  
  
"Yeah." Lorelai agreed.  
  
"It would be a great opportunity to talk with someone who's been through it all and did it successfully. You can ask questions, he can give some perspective, it seems perfect."  
  
"Yeah, it does." Lorelai nodded and both she and Chris turned to Rory to wait for her answer.  
  
"It...sounds a little weird." Rory said.   
  
"Yeah, a little." Lorelai agreed, and then she and Rory both turned to Chris.  
  
"Well, I'll go with you--"  
  
"_We'll_ go with you." Lorelai interrupted.  
  
"Okay, yeah, and--" Chris tried to start again.  
  
"And what's the worst that can happen? We're bored and we blow a meal, but if this person can help, then that's a good thing, right?"  
  
"I do have some questions," Rory said slowly. "Well, a lot of questions."  
  
"Good, then, let's call him." Lorelai hopped up and headed for the phone.   
  
"Now?" Rory asked, slightly panicked.  
  
"Yes, yes, there's no time like the present, come on. Give me the number, Chris." Lorelai held out her hand for the number. Chris, however, withheld the slip of paper.  
  
"His name is Darren Springsteen of Westport, Connecticut, Harvard class of '74." Chris explained as he took the phone from Lorelai and handed it to Rory. Lorelai stuck her hand in front of the number pad before Rory could dial.  
  
"Uh! Ask if he has a brother named Bruce," she said happily.  
  
"I'm not gonna ask him that." Rory said as she dialed the phone number. She moved the mouthpiece away from her mouth for a second. "It's ringing," she announced to her parents.  
  
"Hee!" Lorelai laughed.  
  
"Hello?" someone asked in Rory's ear, and she panicked and hung up.  
  
"Why'd you hang up?" Chris asked, confused.  
  
"I--I'm not good at these things."  
  
"Did he answer?" Lorelai asked.  
  
"Yes." Rory slightly nodded.  
  
"Yes?" Chris asked incredulously. Lorelai snorted.  
  
"Rory, that's a really terrible first impression."  
  
The phone rang.  
  
"Uh-oh." Lorelai voiced softly.  
  
"Him?" Rory asked, worried.  
  
"Maybe." Lorelai said, just as worried.  
  
"He star sixty-nined us?" Rory asked again, panicked now.  
  
"Well, the Harvard people _can_ afford all the latest technology." Chris said. Lorelai hit him on the shoulder.  
  
"Answer!" Lorelai hissed to Rory.  
  
"Hey, you've reached The Fertile Foundation, the very very _very_ pro-birth family that isn't even legally fun and together and all yet, and if you're calling about Lane Kim's ad, sorry we're not in, but don't commit rock and roll suicide--just crank a message with some feedback!" Lorelai's voice rang out over the answering machine.  
  
"Oh, geez." Rory groaned.  
  
"Well, if he is related to Bruce, he can dig it." Chris pointed out.  
  
"Hey, my name's Dave Rygalski," a boy's voice said to the machine, "I'm calling about the ad. I left my number before, so call when you get a chance."  
  
"Where's my--" a girl asked in the background.  
  
"Relax, I'm coming." Dave answered, seconds before Lorelai stopped the message.  
  
"Let's try this again," Lorelai said as she dialed the Harvard alumni's number again and held the phone up to her ear.  
  
"Can we please just do this later?" Rory pleaded.  
  
"No, let's get it done now." Chris said. Lorelai nodded.  
  
"It's ringing," she said.  
  
"Let's do it later." Rory said as though the idea had just occured to her.  
  
"It's ringing." Lorelai ignored Rory and handed her the phone.  
  
"No, I can't, I'm gonna say the wrong thing or have the wrong tone in my voice. I'm not in good first impression mode right now." Rory protested as she held the phone out to Lorelai again. "Unh! Answer!"  
  
Lorelai stuck her tongue out at Rory but answered the phone anyway, only she did it in a high-pitched voice.  
  
"Hello? Hello, um, this is Rory Gilmore. I believe you were expecting my call. Um, oh, well, this is such a wonderful opportunity for me. Whatever's good for you will be great for me."  
  
"Not so breathy!" Rory hissed.  
  
"This is how chickens talk!" Lorelai said to Rory before talking on the phone again in the same high voice. "Lunch? Oh yes, let me just check my organizer...oh, perfect. My parents will be there, too. They're terrific. All right, I'll see you this weekend. Mm, bye." Lorelai smiled and hung up the phone.  
  
"You're no Danny Gans."  
  
"She never claimed to be." Chris wrapped his arms around Lorelai's waist, she leaned into him, and they started swaying gently.  
  
"Uhh, he's gonna be expecting Chilton High School senior Trixie McBimbo." Rory complained.  
  
"And her mother, Bambi McBimbo." Lorelai added.  
  
"And her father, Chris-y McPimpo."  
  
"You're so cute!" Lorelai exclaimed, kissing Chris.  
  
"I guess it can't hurt, right?" Rory asked.  
  
"It can only help." Chris nodded.  
  
"Okay." Rory said uncertainly.  
  
"And look, if it's a total bust, we'll grab a pole and Trixie and Bambi'll take it on the road. That's something to put on your application, huh? It'll set you apart." Lorelai smiled.  
  
"Thanks, Mom." Rory smiled and started out of the house.  
  
"Bye, Trixie!" Chris exclaimed, imitating Lorelai's high-pitched voice from earlier.  
  
  
  
~~~~  
  
  
  
It was getting closer and closer to seven, and Rory was pacing around the front porch, wringing her hands. Chris and Lorelai had gracefully ducked out to eat dinner a few minutes before, leaving Rory alone in the house for when she...broke...up...with Dean. She was gonna break up with Dean. Rory sighed and sank onto the top step of the porch. She took in a shuddering breath. She was going to break up with her boyfriend.  
  
"Rory? Are you okay?" Dean asked as he walked up.  
  
"Oh, Dean." Rory looked up and tried to smile. "Sit."  
  
"Okay." Dean obliged. "You wanted to talk?"  
  
"Yeah," Rory drew in another deep breath. "Now, this isn't easy to say."  
  
"Are--are you breaking up with me?"  
  
"We--ell," Rory started. Dean jumped up.  
  
"You are, aren't you? It's because of him, isn't it?"  
  
"Who? It's because of who?" Rory asked, jumping up next to Dean.  
  
"Jess. _Him_."  
  
"What? No! No, it's not because of _Jess_. I never said anything about him! You're jumping to conclusions again! Look--"  
  
"I'm jumping to conclusions _again_? What the hell do you mean, again?"  
  
"You are obsessive, and jealous, and I can't handle this anymore, Dean! I can't be friends with a boy--or you jump out of your skin every single time I talk to him. I can't be enemies with a boy--or you jump out of your skin every time he pisses me off! What's next, I watch a movie with a boy in it and you freak out? God, I just--I just can't do this anymore. We're through!" Rory turned and stalked into the house, slamming the door as she went. Dean shook his head and then walked up the steps himself, and then tried the door.  
  
"Open the door, Rory! Unlock the goddamn door!"  
  
"No! Go away!" Rory yelled.  
  
"Rory! Rory!" Dean banged on the door with his fists. Rory pulled the door open slightly.  
  
"Get your damn caveman hands off my door and go home." And she slammed the door again. Dean walked back to the steps and started gearing up to ram the door when Babette walked out of her house next door and glared. Dean shook his head and continued walking down the stairs and away from the Gilmore home.  
  
  
  
~~~~  
  
  
  
Apparently that's it. Notepad is telling me I don't have any more memory, so there's gonna be some **Previously, on Gilmore Girls:** next time. REVIEW!! 


	11. Crazy Ass Pregnant Woman

Title: Always You  
Chapter 11: Crazy Ass Pregnant Woman  
  
Don't own nothin'.  
  
  
  
~~~~  
  
  
  
**Previously, on Gilmore Girls:**  
  
Lor, Chris, Rory and Lane walk out of a town meeting.  
  
Lane: So, how was lunch with Harvard guy?  
  
Rory: Great, he answered all my questions.  
  
Chris: And he makes a killer chicken.  
  
Lorelai: Yep, sticks a lemon up its butt.  
  
Lane: Nice.  
  
_Dave Rygalski and Lane are talking.   
  
Dave: I'm sort of an audio geek, sorry.  
  
Lane: No, don't apologize, I love you...for that, for being that way._  
  
Jess walks up to Rory.  
  
Jess: Are you really broken up with Dean?  
  
Rory: Yes, I'm really broken up with Dean.  
  
_ Lorelai and Christopher are in Luke's.  
  
Chris: Second trimester?  
  
Lor: Second trimester!  
  
Lorelai squeals and they hug._  
  
  
  
~~~~  
  
  
  
"So how far are you today?" Rory asked her mother as their little family walked into Luke's diner.  
  
"Seventeen weeks, on the dot," Lorelai announced proudly.  
  
"And your clothes are already getting too small. Wow, you're gonna be a whale," Rory whistled. Well, she tried to. She couldn't exactly whistle, so she licked her lips and made a 'whoo' sound. Loreali hit her.  
  
"That is the worst thing to say to a pregnant woman, especially a pregnant Lorelai," Chris whispered to Rory, who just shrugged.  
  
"Hey, Luke!" Lorelai proclaimed as she walked up to the counter. Luke sighed.  
  
"Whaddya want?"  
  
"Uh, let's see. Give me...three--no, four strips of bacon, five blueberry pancakes, a couple of scrambled eggs with onions and cheese and all that crap mixed in there, although no crap, cause that would taste bad, of course."  
  
"Of course," Luke nodded.  
  
"Yeah, and ooh! A chocolate sprinkled doughnut and one of those hole-less donuts with the cream in the middle."  
  
"Is that all?" Luke raised his eyebrows.  
  
"Mmm, no, a large milk, small orange juice, and one of those little bowls of coffee."  
  
"Okay," Luke continued scribbling on his order pad.  
  
"And--can you throw a couple of those little sausage links in there somewhere?"  
  
"Uh, sure. Okay, I'll be right back." He turned to go into the kitchen.  
  
"Wait!" Lorelai turned to Chris and Rory. "You guys want anything?"  
  
Luke sighed and turned around to take their order.  
  
"A couple of pancakes and coffee," Rory shrugged.  
  
"Yeah, same for me." Chris said.  
  
"Huh. A low-maintenence Gilmore. You know, Chris, having you around might not be so bad."  
  
"Thanks," Chris said as Luke headed for the kitchen. "So, Lor, appetite's kicking in already?"  
  
"Yeah. I'm just thrilled I don't throw up anymore. Unfortunately, that means Mom's gonna make me eat her fancy-schmancy food now."  
  
"Aww, poor Mom." Rory slightly mocked.  
  
"I know you're making fun of me, but thank you anyway, sweetie."  
  
"You're welcome, Mom."  
  
"Hey, Lukey! Food!" Lorelai yelled toward the kitchen.  
  
"Mom, that's not gonna work."  
  
"Yes, it so is! Lucas! Food!!!"  
  
"Shut up, Lorelai. Here's your doughnuts, and coffee," Luke said, handing the items to Lorelai, who gleefully accepted them. "Now stop yelling in my diner."  
  
"Hee hee, I got me some food."  
  
"Hey, Luke?" Rory called, hoping for coffee. He slightly waved his hand and went back into the kitchen to finish the rest of Lorelai's order. Rory turned to Lorelai with a pout on her face. "Can I have some?" she asked, pointing to Lorelai's coffee.  
  
"Uh-uh, I worked for it."  
  
"But, I need coffee!"  
  
"Nope, sorry." Lorelai took a big gulp of her coffee, and Rory sadly watched.  
  
"Coffee?" someone asked, placing an empty cup in front of Rory. She looked up into Jess' eyes.  
  
"Hi," she greeted, a goofy smile spreading across her face.  
  
"Hi," he smiled back.  
  
"Hi," Chris said pointedly. Jess turned to him.  
  
"Hi. Hi," he repeated, this time to Lorelai, who just waved a hand and continued drinking her coffee.  
  
"Uh, you want some coffee?" Jess asked again, holding the pot up.  
  
"Sure," Rory nodded. Jess nodded back and poured her a cup. She took a sip and smiled. He smiled back and watched her drink. After a few minutes, Chris cleared his throat.  
  
"Oh." Jess came out of his stupor. "Oh, Ror, you know, I have that book you wanted to borrow upstairs."  
  
"Oh, really? That...book." Rory said, only slightly confused.  
  
"So...you wanna come get it?"  
  
"Oh, yeah! _That_ book. Sure." Rory finally caught on, took a last sip of her coffee, and headed upstairs after Jess. Chris stared, shocked, at the retreating teenagers' backs, and then turned to Lor.  
  
"You're just going to let her go upstairs with...him?" he asked, pointing towards the stairs.  
  
"Just as long as she's not cheating on her boyfriend," Lorelai shrugged, sipping Rory's abandoned coffee.  
  
"But they could be doing God knows what up there!"  
  
"Rory's a good kid. So they're only doing goodness knows what up there."  
  
"How can you joke at a time like this?"  
  
"Like this: What's a nice guy like you doing in a dirty mind like mine?" Lorelai waggled her eyebrows.  
  
"That's not really joking, that's just you trying to pick me up."  
  
"Which is a joke all in itself, seeing as how I didn't have to get you, you had to get me."  
  
"Ha!" Chris laughed.  
  
"See, I made you laugh, and proved my point." Lorelai took a big gulp of the rest of Rory's coffee.  
  
  
  
~~~~  
  
  
  
"So, do you really have a book up here?" Rory asked as Jess opened the upstairs apartment.  
  
"What, are you kidding? I've got hundreds, but that's certainly not why I invited you up here." Jess turned around to realize that Rory was still standing in the doorway. "Hey, come on in. I'm not gonna bite. Well, actually...."  
  
Rory playfully hit Jess on the shoulder as she walked past him into the apartment.  
  
"So...this is your apartment."  
  
"Yep."  
  
"Wow, I haven't seen it since you guys redid it."  
  
"Oh, yeah."  
  
"It's bigger."  
  
"Ripping a wall down can have that effect on a room."  
  
"Yeah. That part, over there." Rory pointed.  
  
"That's mine."  
  
"Yeah. It is."  
  
"Yeah. You want a soda?" Jess gestured to the fridge. Rory shook her head.  
  
"No, I'm fine."  
  
"Okay."  
  
Jess and Rory were standing about ten feet apart. A very long, uncomfortable ten feet apart.   
  
"You sure you don't want a soda?"  
  
"Yeah, I'm sure."  
  
"_Please_ let me get you a soda. I gotta do something other than stand here like a moron."  
  
"Take comfort in the fact that you are not doing it alone."  
  
"Okay, let's just regroup here."  
  
"Yeah, regroup." Rory nodded.  
  
"First of all, we should try to get within, say, a foot of each other."  
  
"Okay."  
  
Jess and Rory slowly walked closer to each other, covering the nine feet between them in a few seconds.  
  
"I think that's about a foot." Rory observed.  
  
"Huh, that school of yours is really paying off."  
  
"So, now what?"  
  
"Now we should...." Jess couldn't think of anything.  
  
"Well, I think we either need to get a little closer or need to warm up."  
  
"Okay." Jess agreed. They covered eight more inches and then Jess reached for Rory's hands. "Hi." he smiled.  
  
"Hi," she smiled back, as they covered the remaining four inches and started to kiss. It was a nice kiss. Rory half-giggled. She didn't remember the other two kisses being this good. Maybe it was because this time they both wanted the kiss, and they both went for it. Jess let go of her hands and she wrapped them around his neck. He went for her waist and pulled her closer, when all of a sudden Luke burst in the room and they jumped apart as fast as they could.   
  
"Lorelai wants an omelet and we ran out of eggs," Luke grumbled as he searched through the fridge. "Crazy ass pregnant woman."  
  
"So, Jess, I guess I'll see you later." Rory stumbled over her words.  
  
"Yeah, I guess so."  
  
"Bye." Rory stood there awkwardly for a second, and then Jess leaned over and kissed her on the cheek. She grinned. "Bye." She left the apartment and ran down the stairs. Luke stood up from the fridge and walked over to Jess.  
  
"What was going on up here?"  
  
"Nothing."  
  
"Nothing? I walk in here and the two of you are like shrapnel."  
  
"Your timing is perfect, by the way. Next time I'll hang a sock on the door."  
  
"Hey, there will be no hanging of socks on the door in my house, do you hear me?" Luke stuck a finger in Jess' face.  
  
"Relax, I was kidding." Jess held up his hands in defense.  
  
"Oh, really? Hanging socks on doors--that's your idea of funny."  
  
"Depending on the sock design, could be hilarious."  
  
"Okay, that's it, sit down."  
  
"Don't you need to get those eggs to Lorelai?" Jess pointed to the eggs in Luke's hand.  
  
"Yes, dammit, but I'll be back." Luke shook his finger in Jess' face one more time, turned, and went downstairs to make Lorelai's omelet. Jess shook his head, grabbed a book, and sat on the couch to read.  
  
"Crazy ass uncle."  
  
  
  
~~~~  
  
  
  
"Hello, Stars Hollow, are you ready to rock?" Lane shouted as she walked into the diner and sat down at the table Lorelai, Christopher and Rory had migrated to after most of Lorelai's order had come.  
  
"Let me guess, band practice tonight?" Lorelai guessed, shoveling pancakes into her mouth.  
  
"Yes, we're going to learn our fourth song. That's practically a set!" Lane explained as she picked up one of Lorelai's sausage links and took a bite.  
  
"Hm, I'm impressed." Chris said.  
  
"And then once we have a set, we'll get a gig, and then once we get a gig, we'll get a record deal." Lane continued, excited.  
  
"Swallow." Lorelai instructed.  
  
"And then after we get a record deal, we'll get really famous and then we'll have to give all of these interviews about how horrible it is to be really famous and how we never wanted this in the first place, all we care about is the music, and fame is gonna tear us apart. It's gonna be great!" Lane exclaimed.  
  
"And rehearsing in the music shop's been working out?" Rory asked.  
  
"Perfectly--it's totally time efficient, being a thirty-second commute from my house. We practice for two hours, I'm home in time to watch reruns of Johnny Yune's talk show on Korean television with my mom, who thinks I hooked up with you guys--which I did, so I'm not even lying." Lane pointed out.  
  
"Well, you're kinda lying." Lorelai said.  
  
"I'm fibbing, but a fib is not a lie."  
  
"Hm, I'd say it's a fib-slash-lie."  
  
"No, no, it's not a lie, and I can always tell 'cause of the few times that I've out-and-out lied to my mother, I'd get this feeling in my gut like a wild animal was burrowing into it, and I'm not getting that. Oh, I've gotta go." Lane jumped up and grabbed her jacket. "Bye."  
  
"Oh, Lane, I'll walk you out. I need to talk to you." Rory jumped up too.  
  
"Okay, sure."  
  
"Okay, I'll see you guys at home. Bye." Rory left with Lane.  
  
"Ha, she left her food." Lorelai picked up Rory's remaining pancakes and plopped them on her plate.  
  
  
  
~~~~  
  
  
  
"So what do you have to tell me?" Lane asked Rory as they walked out of the diner.  
  
"Oh, well...I just made out with Jess."  
  
"No!"  
  
"Yes," Rory slightly blushed.   
  
"Oh, my God! Already?"  
  
"Yeah. Well, Dean was a bastard."  
  
"Hmm, I agree, but try not to get me to hate him _too_ much--he's still kinda my friend, you know."  
  
"I know. I guess I don't hate him that much, either. I just don't love him."   
  
"I completely understand. That same thing happened to me one time too."  
  
"Really?"  
  
"No. Just sounded like the right thing to say."  
  
"Aw. You're so sweet. Always looking out for me." Rory hugged Lane.  
  
"Hmph. Okay, I'll look out for you later, but right now I gotta go single-handedly improve the reputation of drummers everywhere by being on time for every rehearsal."  
  
"Of course. Bye."  
  
"Bye." Lane waved and ran towards the music store. Rory watched her leave and then headed back into the diner for the rest of her breakfast. Unfortunately, when she got there, her mother was chewing up the last of Rory's pancakes.  
  
  
  
~~~~  
  
  
  
"So you've got class on Monday?" Emily asked Lorelai, confused, at the following Friday night dinner.  
  
"Yes."  
  
"But--didn't you graduate last year?"  
  
"This isn't business class, Mom. I'm just going into the high school on Monday and talking to them about what a success I am."  
  
"You're a success?"  
  
"Well, Mom, Stars Hollow is a very small town."  
  
"Hm, that's certainly true."  
  
"These family dinners are just a kick, aren't they?" Lorelai beamed to Chris and Rory, who were sitting silently next to her.  
  
"Yeah, a kick in the--"  
  
"Chris!" Lorelai interrupted him. "Please. These are civilized affairs. We mustn't insult the hostess."  
  
"Lorelai, I believe mocking me also counts as insulting me."  
  
"Eh, po-tay-to, po-tah-to."  
  
"So, Mom, did you tell Grandma about our shopping spree tomorrow?" Rory butted in before Emily could open her mouth. Her announcement made Emily's eyes light up and Lorelai's get fire in them.  
  
"A shopping spree? Oh, what for?" Emily asked, delighted.  
  
"Oh, nothing. Nothing at all," Rory cowered under her mother's gaze.  
  
"Oh, but you brought it up. You wouldn't bring it up if it wasn't important."  
  
"Oh, nothing. We just--we're just going shopping for maternity clothes and a few things for the wedding."  
  
"The wedding! Oh, that sounds absolutely delightful! I'd love to come."  
  
"But...no one invited you, Mom."  
  
"Nonsense. No one needs to invite the bride's mother when they're shopping for wedding items! I'm supposed to be paying for it."  
  
"Yeah, but you're not. We are." Lorelai gestured to herself and Chris.  
  
"But you're also having a baby. I'm sure you remember how expensive that is."  
  
"Well, yeah, but--"  
  
"Good! Then it's settled. I'll meet you here tomorrow morning at nine. Oh, I believe it's time for dinner. Shall we make our way to the dining room?" Emily stood up and headed into the other room without even waiting for anyone else. Chris shrugged and followed her, and Rory ran after her father and grandmother, trying to escape Lorelai, who was shooting daggers at her back.  
  
  
  
~~~~  
  
  
  
I'd make it longer, but I haven't updated in forever, so I'm just gonna stop here. Coming up next chapter--shopping with Emily and maybe a post-fight confrontation with Dean! Ooh, the fun never stops! I also think I'm going to try to stray from the story line a bit, so I can finally write my own dialouge, cause I love the show's and all, but it's not mine, you know? So anyway, expect sort-of the same stories, but not really. I'll probably still do the Dance Marathon, and I'll try to get Jess to enter with Rory. Ooh, fun! Okay, gotta go...watch tonight's episode again. I've already seen it once. Oh, and if anyone wants to hear about the best movie in the world, e-mail me! The movie involves Romeo and Juliet from Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet, Helena and Demetrius from Shakespeare's A Midsummer Night's Dream, Macbeth and Lady Macbeth from (you guessed it) Shakespeare's Macbeth, along with Hamlet from Shakespeare's Hamlet, Alice from Lewis Carroll's Alice In Wonderland, Mother Goose, and Rose and Jack from _Titanic_. And the soundtrack is the craziest thing you've ever heard, including the themes from Jaws, Jeopardy, and Footloose, along with Beautiful Stranger from Austin Powers 2 and the Pina Colada song. E-mail me if you wanna know more! sami57peace2u@hotmail.com 


	12. Shopping For Nicknames

Title: Always You  
Chapter 12: Shopping For Nicknames  
  
Picks up where the last one left off. You know, at the bottom of the page, there's this little purple button labeled 'go.' I love that button, and it's feeling very neglected. If you could press it and review, even anonymously, both the button and I would love you forever. Thank you.  
~~~~  
_Beep! Beep! Beep! Beep!_  
  
Lorelai groaned and rolled over. Chris poked her sleepily.  
  
"Either turn that stupid thing off or get up."  
  
"I don't wanna get up." Lorelai muttered back.  
  
"Then don't."  
  
"Oh, but I have to! Stupid Mom."  
  
"You're the one who set the clock for six thirty."  
  
Lorelai groaned loudly. "Can I throw the clock against the wall?"  
  
"Always."  
  
"Okay." Lorelai happily lifted her arm from under the covers and inched it closer to the clock. She found it, picked it up in one hand, and heaved it at the wall. It fell from her fingers and bounced a few feet, but continued beeping. Lorelai groaned again and reached...but the clock was too far, so she rolled out of bed and clicked it off.  
  
"And now I'm up. I hate you, Chris."  
  
"And now it feels like a normal day." Chris rolled over and turned away from Lorelai, who threw various clothes from the floor at him. He smiled and made kissy noises in her direction. She picked up another shirt and almost threw it at him, but really looked at it and decided she wanted to wear it. After changing into the shirt and slipping into her jeans, she searched through the huge mess of clothes on the floor and picked up a shirt she didn't like wearing much. She balled it up, aimed, and threw it at Chris. It hit him directly on the head and she held her arms up in victory, walked out the door, and started down the stairs. She walked into the kitchen, turned the coffee maker on, and sank into a seat at the table. She laid her head on her arms and sighed. It was early. _Very_ early. Ridiculously early. Very, very, very, ridiculously early.  
  
There was a sudden blast of beeping and then a noise that sounded like a drawer shutting--and it was coming from Rory's room. Lorelai was suddenly hit with an idea, and she stood up from the table with a mischievous look on her face. She made her way across the kitchen and paused outside Rory's door. All was silent. Lorelai slowly turned the doorknob and pushed the door open. Rory was facing the other way, practically fast asleep. A cord was coming out of Rory's bedside table where her alarm clock had been shoved. Lorelai grinned and crept silently to Rory's bed. She paused, counted to three, and jumped.  
  
"Ahh!"  
  
"Morning, sleepyhead. It's seven. Get up!"  
  
"Oh, it's seven," Rory groaned.  
  
"You're the one who mentioned shopping for the wedding to my mother!"  
  
"Yeah, I'm sorry about that."  
  
"You'll be sorrier in an hour and a half. Get up, get dressed." Lorelai patted Rory's leg. Rory groaned.  
  
"Do I have to?"  
  
"Yes, you have to. I'm dressed. You get dressed, we'll run over to Luke's, eat, then leave by eight."  
  
"Why do we have to leave by eight?"  
  
"Because I know my mother, and if we leave at eight-thirty and there's a tiny bit of traffic and we're late by a _second_, she'll start getting on us and be on us all day long. So my way, we leave at eight, get there when we get there, sit outside until two till, and then we'll ring the doorbell and be right on time."  
  
"Boy, you've really thought this out." Rory turned back around to face her mother, dressed and ready to go.  
  
"Yeah, well, after enough yelling and disappointment, you try to do whatever you can to keep it at bay."  
  
"Yeah." Rory ran her brush through her hair one last time. "Ready to go?"  
  
"Uh! Uh!" Lorelai pretended to struggle to get up.  
  
"Need help?" Rory held a hand out.  
  
"Wait, before I get up, can you help me button my jeans?"  
  
"Mom!"  
  
"What? Your baby sister is growing. She's now about the size of my pinky--huge, huh?"  
  
"Sure feels it," Rory groaned, pulling the zipper on Lorelai's jeans as hard as she could. "You know it's a girl?"  
  
"No," Lorelai sighed.  
  
"Don't sigh! Breathe in!"  
  
"Sorry. I just hope it's a girl. Actually, I have this gut feeling it's a boy."  
  
"A boy would be okay. I don't think it's gonna work." Rory sighed and flopped onto her bed next to her mother.  
  
"Yeah, okay. Boys are yucky! I don't want a boy."  
  
"Boys aren't yucky. You like Dad, right?"  
  
"Mmm, yeah. I like your dad a lot." Lorelai smiled.  
  
"Eww. Please don't embellish. But my point is that not all boys are bad."  
  
"I bet you don't think Jess is bad."  
  
"No, I don't think Jess is bad."  
  
"Speaking of Jess and Luke and coffee, let's go now." Lorelai struggled to pull herself up.  
  
"Okay, let's go." Rory got up and held out a hand for her mother, who gladly took it.  
~~~~  
"Mom, just because you can't button your jeans does not mean you should pig out."  
  
"That's not why I'm pigging out! I'm pigging out cause I'm pregnant."  
  
"Yes, but the baby's only the size of your pinky, you said so yourself."  
  
"Oh, shush and keep driving."  
  
Rory turned back to the road as Lorelai pulled the last muffin out of the bag from Luke's.  
  
"Anyway, I'm still mad at you about the whole Emily thing."  
  
"Hey, I'm doing it too."  
  
"I know. But you're really only going so you can pick out the bridesmaid dresses."  
  
"And to get you maternity clothes so I don't have to struggle to zip your jeans every morning."  
  
"You know, I've already gone up at least a size. That sucks."   
  
"I'm sure it does." Rory turned the steering wheel of the Jeep and coasted the car to a stop in the Gilmores' driveway. Both girls sighed, simultaneously, dreading the next few hours.  
  
"Well, this is it." Lorelai voiced.  
  
"Yup."  
  
"Final hour."  
  
"D-day."  
  
"Horrible defeat."  
  
"And we're almost late."  
  
"God, she even managed to make us late!"  
  
"That might have been you with your hour long order."  
  
"No, I think Emily somehow managed to make us late."  
  
"Whatever, let's just go."   
  
"Yeah."  
  
Both girls rolled out of the Jeep and slowly made their way to the door. Seconds before they reached it, Emily burst through, hauling a huge bag and slipping on her sunglasses.  
  
"Come, come, girls, we're almost late!" Emily made a shooing motion and herded the girls to her car.  
  
"What about the Jeep, can we go in the Jeep?" Lorelai asked desperately.  
  
"That hunk of junk? No, we're going in a nice family sized sedan. We're almost late! Get in the car!"  
  
Lorelai obligingly sat in the front seat, while Rory quickly sat in the back. Emily sat in the driver's seat and then looked oddly at Lor.  
  
"What?" she asked, self-consciously pausing in putting on her seatbelt. Emily just shook her head.  
  
"Get out of the front seat! It's much too dangerous for you to be sitting there with the air bag."  
  
"What?"  
  
"I will not allow you to put my second grandchild in harm's way! Get in the back seat with Rory."  
  
"But--"  
  
"Oh, just do it, Lorelai."  
  
"Okay, whatever." Lorelai got out of the front seat and sat next to Rory in the back. As Emily nodded and started the car, Lorelai leaned over to Rory and whispered, "The massacre has already started, and it's too late to back out now!"  
  
Rory nodded solemnly.  
~~~~  
"Now--" Emily turned around quickly, but no one was behind her. "Where is that girl? Oh, it's so hard to get good help these days."  
  
"That is such a cliche," Lorelai muttered to Rory as Emily stormed away from the girls to find the clerk who had been helping them.   
  
"Well, Grandma really thinks that good help is hard to find."  
  
"Yeah, but she didn't have to add 'these days.' According to her, good help has always been hard to find. As a matter of fact, she's _never_ found good help."  
  
"Good point." Rory turned back to the row of bridesmaid dresses and pulled a long blue one out. "Whaddya think?" she asked, holding the dress against her body.  
  
"Hmm. Pretty. Very blue."  
  
"Okay, that's a no," Rory sighed, sliding the hanger back on the rack. "Mom, you need to make up your mind about what you want."  
  
"Well...what does it matter? You're the person it should really matter to."  
  
"But it's your wedding!"  
  
"Uh, duh."  
  
Rory sighed again. "Okay, just tell me a few definites."  
  
"Sure, whatever."  
  
"Okay, first of all, when's the wedding?"  
  
"After the baby's born. Sometime in winter, so there can be snow."  
  
"I thought you wanted to get married in the town square."  
  
"I do," Lorelai nodded emphatically.  
  
"But it might be snowing in the winter...and it's definitely going to be cold."  
  
"I like the snow."  
  
"I do, too, but not everyone does."  
  
"Well, then, I just won't invite them to the wedding. What do you think of this one?" Lorelai held up a frilly tan dress. Rory pulled a face, and Lorelai reflected it.  
  
"What are you going to do if someone important doesn't want to stand outside in the snow? Like, say, for instance...me."  
  
Lorelai gasped dramatically. "Bite your tongue!"  
  
"I didn't say I hated snow, per se, I just don't wanna stand out in it for twenty minutes. And--"  
  
But Lorelai wasn't paying any attention to Rory. "My own daughter has deserted me!" Lorelai grabbed a poor, unsuspecting woman walking to the dressing rooms. "My own daughter has just declared that she hates snow! My own daughter! Oh, woe!" On the last word, Lorelai let go of the woman, who shot a worried look to Rory and ran off.  
  
"Mom!" Rory hissed. "That was Mrs. Grant!"  
  
"Who?" Lorelai asked, still slightly in her 'o-woe-is-me' attitude but curious as always.  
  
"Louise's mom! You know, of Madeline and Louise?"  
  
"Ooh. Do you think she recognized me?"  
  
"I hope not."  
  
"You know what, she'll probably gossip to Louise, and describe you to her, and Louise'll figure out it's you, and the Louise will tell Madeline and Paris, and Paris'll gossip to everyone at Chilton, and your entire reputation will be ruined. Harvard'll probably throw your application directly in the trash, because you're the girl with the crazy mom." Lorelai nodded seriously. Rory sighed in defeat.  
  
"Okay, fine, I overreacted. But that won't happen anyway, because Paris wouldn't gossip about me without getting the real story first. After all, she has her journalistic integrity to uphold."  
  
"Well then, she'll just call you immediately and demand details."  
  
Both girls looked expectantly at Rory's purse, but it remained silent.  
  
"Let's just shop for wedding dresses."  
  
"Okay," Rory agreed, and they both turned back to the row of dresses. After a few minutes, Emily came stalking up.  
  
"We're leaving," she proclaimed.  
  
"Oh, what'd you do now?" Lorelai asked.  
  
"It's nothing I did, Lorelai, but thank you for that vote of confidence."  
  
"No, I was just--"  
  
"We are leaving," Emily interrupted, "because all of the people in this boutique are absolute idiots, and there is no way I am letting my daughter's wedding, the first wedding I've ever had a chance to plan, be handled by idiots!" Emily turned and started walking out of the store.  
  
As they were following her mother out of the store, Lorelai turned to Rory and whispered, "Like I've had twenty weddings."  
~~~~  
"How's it look?" Emily asked impatiently.  
  
Lorelai unhappily walked out of the dressing room, wearing a white fluffy shirt with a high empire waist. Rory buried her face in her hands so as to hide her laughing, and Emily giddily clapped her hands.   
  
"Oh, I love it!"  
  
"I don't. I don't want fluffy shirts, I want jeans and glittery shirts, and some of those fun 'bun in the oven' shirts."  
  
"A bun in the oven shirt? But that's so tacky."  
  
"Yes! Exactly! No offense, Mom, but we have radically different tastes."  
  
"I've noticed," Emily agreed wryly.  
  
"Yeah, so stop forcing me to do things I don't want to do! I don't want you to plan my wedding. You can take a part in it, but it's _my_ wedding, _my_ pregnancy...not yours."  
  
Emily nodded. "Okay. Well, I guess I'll just see you Friday. Excuse me for wanting to spend more than two hours a week with my daughter and granddaughter. Goodbye." She picked up her coat and left. Rory stared after her and then stood up and walked over to her mother, still looking after Emily.  
  
"Mom! Now you made Grandma feel bad." Rory turned to her mother and took in her appearance. She tried to keep a straight face, but it was incredibly hard, and she burst into giggles before too long.  
~~~~  
"I'm never going shopping with my mother again!" Lorelai proclaimed, flopping by Chris' side on their couch later that afternoon.  
  
"Bad day?" Chris asked. Lorelai groaned and buried her face into his side, so Chris looked at Rory, who nodded.   
  
"But we did get some clothes," Rory said happily, holding a few of the multiple bags filled with clothes up for Chris to see. He nodded.  
  
"So, Mom, I'm gonna drop these bags in your room, and then I'm leaving to see Jess."  
  
Lorelai perked up. "Ooooh, she's going to see Je-es!" she said sing-song.  
  
"Glad to see you're feeling better." Rory said.  
  
"Oh, I always feel better when I get to tease you! Rory and Jess, sitting in a tree, K-I-S-S-I-N-G!" Lorelai sang as Rory quickly retreated to her room. She settled back into Christopher, satisfied, but Christopher really wasn't.  
  
"That relationship worries me."  
  
"Why?" Lorelai asked, her mind not really on it.  
  
"Because he's me and you rolled up into one. I mean, how long have they known each other, a few months?"  
  
"A year."  
  
"Still, they can't know each other that well."  
  
"I think they know each other pretty well."  
  
"He's just like me and you. All in one neat little package."  
  
"Yes, I agree, but still, she's not like either of us at that age. Not even the tiniest little bit. She's probably more responsible and mature than I'll ever be."  
  
"That's true."  
  
"Yeah. So I wouldn't worry about it much."  
  
"Okay, I guess I won't."  
  
"Good." Lorelai resettled herself against Chris and pulled his arms around her. She picked up a magazine and began reading while he continued staring off into space, thinking. After a while, Rory stepped out of her room, dressed in a slightly nicer shirt, her hair fixed nicely, and just a touch of make-up. She practically hopped across the living room to her parents.  
  
"Bye!" she said, kissing first her father, then her mother, on the forehead. "Bye, little one," she kissed Lorelai's stomach. "I'll be back by eleven," she proclaimed, straightening up.  
  
"Have fun, sweetie," Lorelai answered.  
  
"Can do."  
  
"And if you can, bring Mommy back a few of Luke's muffins."  
  
"Of course," Rory laughed. Then she waved, said 'bye' one last time, and exited the house. The house grew quiet, with only the noises of clocks ticking and breathing.   
  
"He calls her Ror," Chris voiced his final worrying thought, thinking back to when he was fifteen, sixteen, and the final sign of how much he cared for Lor was his nickname for her. After the nickname came Rory. Lorelai knew all this, and the magazine was lowered ever so slightly as the same thought hit both parents at the same time. 


	13. Let's Dance!

Title: Always You  
Lucky Chapter 13: Let's Dance!!  
  
Oh, I am soooo fast-forwarding! Okay, what you need to know:   
  
1. Okay, I'm setting this during the dance marathon, so that makes it...November 2-10, I believe. (the marathon episode was on the second Tuesday of November and the closest weekend is the ninth and tenth. So that's when it is)  
  
2. Lorelai is 22 weeks (5 1/2 months) pregnant, and Chris and Lor have decided they don't want to know the sex.  
  
3. Jess and Rory are definitely a couple. Both Chris and Lor are worried about their relationship, although Chris is the more worried of the two.  
  
4. Rory and Dean are _not_ friends.  
  
5. Luke's kind of distant towards Lorelai.  
  
6. The title of the chapter's a line from the movie _Footloose_, the fabulous dancing movie from the eighties starring Kevin Bacon with the adorably Sarah Jessica Parker in a small co-starring role, fresh off the set of _Square Pegs_.  
  
7. There's a thinly veiled reference to Lauren Graham's TV show from, like, '96 or something like that, that she starred in with Molly Ringwald and Jenna Elfman.  
  
Yeah, that's enough to bore you with right now, I'm sure.  
  
~~~~  
  
Rory woke up at nine-thirty, which was fairly normal for her on a Saturday. She walked into the kitchen for her preliminary cup of coffee when she noticed her mother sitting at the kitchen table--dressed, even--which was slightly out of the ordinary for Lorelai.  
  
"Please, Chris. Please please please." Lorelai was pouting to Christopher.  
  
"Morning," Rory greeted as she walked to the coffee maker.  
  
"Morning, Rory," Christopher smiled before Lorelai pulled his arm to direct his attention towards her again.  
  
"You have to. We do it well, you know."  
  
"I know," Chris sighed.  
  
"So, come on!"  
  
"What's she trying to get you to do?" Rory asked, leaning against the counter and drinking her coffee.  
  
"Be my dance partner for the marathon." Lorelai answered. "I just might be able to beat Kirk this time around. And you know, I was thinking, that if a certain someone I know did it, too, then a Gilmore would definitely be guaranteed to win."  
  
"No." Rory stated simply.  
  
"Oh, come on! You've got a boyfriend, I've got a boyfriend; I went through stupid dancing lessons, you went through stupid dancing lessons. It's perfect!"  
  
"Mom--my boyfriend is Jess. He'll never dance."  
  
"Oh, just throw some of the Gilmore charm his way."  
  
"But not too much," Chris said.  
  
"Not too much. And hey, if that doesn't work, Dean went to dancing lessons with you. You could use him to win and get Jess jealous at the same time."  
  
"You know, you're very evil," Rory told her mother.  
  
"Yes, well, come next Sunday, I want to be evil with Kirk's trophy."  
  
"I'll do it," Chris suddenly said.  
  
"And I'll ask Jess," Rory sighed and agreed with her father.  
  
"Ooh, yay! Well, no matter what, we need cool retro clothes, so come on, Rory. We're going shopping." Lorelai stood up and started pulling Rory to the door.  
  
"Wait, Mom, hold on a second!" Rory, still in her pajamas, protested. She took a last sip of her coffee and handed the empty cup to Chris. "Okay, ready." The girls giggled and left the house.  
  
~~~~  
  
"Please?"  
  
"No," Jess shook his head once again, keeping his eyes on the book in his hands. Rory stood next to Luke's kitchen table, her arms crossed across her chest. She threw a pouting look to her boyfriend, sitting on his uncle's couch, but he stubbornly refused to look up. Suddenly she got an idea and walked over to the couch. She sat down close to Jess, as close as she could without being in his lap.   
  
"Hey," he looked up in surprise.  
  
"Hey," she responded. After a second Jess just nodded and returned to his book. Rory laid her head on his shoulder and pretended to read. Jess wrapped one arm around her, and she turned to face him and started kissing his chin. When he didn't protest (and why would he?), she trailed her kisses down to his neck. He finally looked up from his book and she kissed him on the lips, a long, deep, slow kiss filled with fire. After a minute they broke apart.  
  
"Okay," Jess said breathlessly. "I'll do it."  
  
"Yes!" Rory grabbed his book, smiled at him, and started reading.  
  
~~~~  
  
"Jess!" Luke banged on the bathroom door for what had to have been the fiftieth time in the last ten minutes. "We gotta go, I gotta set up the damn coffee!"  
  
"Calm down, I'm coming!" Jess took a deep breath and exited the bathroom. Luke took one look at his old-timey outfit and immediately burst out laughing.   
  
"That's it, I'm not going." Jess walked past his uncle to his room.  
  
"No, wait, wait. Let me see again." Luke looked him over again. "Yeah, it's still funny."  
  
Jess groaned in disgust and started walking away from his uncle.  
  
"Are you wearing suspenders?"  
  
"Stupid girlfriend." Jess muttered as he grabbed his jacket and started downstairs. "Stupid girlfriend's kisses."  
  
~~~~  
  
"It's too early," Rory groaned into her mother's shoulder as they were walking to the high school for the marathon.  
  
"I agree," Chris groaned, walking behind them.  
  
"You're just big babies. Meanwhile, don't I look cute?" Lorelai gestured to her fabulous forties-style outfit, down to the hair.  
  
"You look pregnant," Rory said, looking at her mother through slits instead of eyelids.  
  
"Yes, I agree that the dress is a bit show-off-y when it comes to that area, but hey--I'm three and a half months from dropping this little sucker and proud of it!"  
  
"You're too happy." Rory settled her head into her mother's shoulder again.  
  
"Even _I_ need coffee this early." Chris said, trying to rub some of the sleep from his eyes.  
  
"Wimps. Hey, Babette!" Lorelai smiled at the older woman as she signed herself and Chris in. "Hmm, can I sign the kid in even though her partner's not here yet?"  
  
"Oh, sure. Just as long as he's here for the physicals."  
  
"Hmm, Jess getting a physical. That's a mental image I didn't need."  
  
"Mom!"  
  
"Hey, I haven't had any coffee either."  
  
"Yeah, but still." Rory finally lifted her head from her mother's shoulder and looked around. Suddenly something caught her eye. "Oh, my God!" she screamed happily and ran off.  
  
"Hey, go chase her," Lorelai nudged Chris.  
  
"Me? What about you?"  
  
"Hey, I'm dropping this sucker in three and a half months. Go run after your daughter." Lorelai pointed and they both looked to see Rory run up to Jess. "Or never mind, cause her boyfriend's being decent and sweet, actually."  
  
"Ooh, that Jess is turning into an old sweetheart, ain't he?" Babette spoke up. "Okay, now you two go get your physicals, bring your release forms inside, and they'll get you a number."  
  
"Thanks, Babette."  
  
"You're welcome, sugar."  
  
~~~~  
  
"I can't believe you did this!" Rory exclaimed, wrapping her arms around Jess' neck.  
  
"Yeah, me either."  
  
"Mmm, you're wonderful." Rory kissed Jess softly.  
  
"Hey, I remember why I decided to do this in the first place."  
  
"Yeah," Rory kissed him again. "Hey, where's Luke?"  
  
"Coming."  
  
"With coffee?"  
  
"I brought your coffee." Jess handed her a thermos.  
  
"Oh, you are the greatest!" Rory grabbed the thermos and downed half of it. "And now I'm awake."  
  
~~~~  
  
"Any couple without a number will be disqualified." Taylor started announcing a half-hour later. "All couples must be touching at all times. All couples must remain moving at all times. The only time you may stop moving or stop touching is when you hear this horn." Taylor blew an air horn. "That sound means you have ten minutes. Ten minutes to get a drink, to eat a snack, take a rest, or whatever it is you can do in ten minutes. And in addition to the ten-minute rest periods, every person participating has been issued a yellow emergency card. In case of emergency, a contestant may hold up the card and leave the floor for ten minutes. If your partner remains on the floor and moving the entire time, then the owner of the yellow card may rejoin them and the contest. First aid is available in Miss Patty's. Please, remember, that if you feel yourself getting lightheaded or having shooting pains or any other stroke-like symptoms, please move off to the side so that your collapse will not get in the way of the other dancers. All right, people, lace your shoes, pin those curls, because we only have three minutes left until we start."  
  
"Is he gonna talk the whole time?" Jess asked.  
  
"No. Although he'll get really talkative around hour fifteen and start moaning about how he should have been a magician."  
  
"Why I never have a tape-recorder when you say these things, I'll never know."  
  
Rory just smiled and kissed him.  
  
~~~~  
  
**Six hours into the marathon**  
  
"Kirk's going down." Lorelai intoned, watching him dance around with his partner.  
  
"Glad to see you're not taking this that seriously."  
  
"Me? No, never. Flip me."  
  
"What?"  
  
"Come on, flip me."  
  
"Lorelai--you're five months pregnant."  
  
"What, are you saying I'm fat?"  
  
"Uh-n-no...I, uh--"  
  
"I'm taking a ten minute break. Yellow card! It's an emergency!" Lorelai held her yellow card up to Taylor; he nodded, and she walked off the dance floor.  
  
Chris just stood there, shocked for a second, but Taylor lifted his megaphone and yelled, "Everyone on the dance floor must remain moving at all times."  
  
Chris started swaying slowly.  
  
"Oh, Dad, what happened?" Rory asked as she and Jess danced over.  
  
"Mood swings."  
  
"She's already moved on," Jess pointed to Lorelai, who was standing at Luke's coffee table, holding out a cup, begging for coffee.  
  
"That's Lorelai." Chris shook his head and half-laughed.  
  
"I'm becoming rapidly convinced that everyone you've ever met is crazy." Jess murmured to Rory as they danced away.  
  
"Well, actually--No, that sounds about right. Now all I have to do is convert you."  
  
"Never."  
  
"Hello? I've already got you dancing and wearing old clothes. Next thing you know you'll be a Christmas Tree in the Town Square."  
  
"I'll _be_ a Christmas Tree?"  
  
"Good, because I've already signed you up." Rory smiled and kissed Jess, who just sighed.  
  
"Hey. I'm back," Lorelai said to Chris, walking over with a large cup of coffee.  
  
"Are you sure? You've still got seven minutes left."  
  
"Sure, I'm sure! And besides, Andrew's about to start his argument, and then we'll be down one more couple."  
  
"Oh, of course."  
  
"Dance with me!" Lorelai struck a dramatic pose and held out a hand to Chris.  
  
"Uh, Lor?"  
  
"Yes, Christopher?" Lorelai asked, her head still turned away.  
  
"You're holding a cup of coffee."  
  
"Oh," Lor fell out of her pose and giggled. "I'll be right back."  
  
"Bye."  
  
Lorelai blew a kiss in his direction and walked back to Luke's table, handing him her cup. He started arguing with her about something or other; Chris couldn't tell. All he could see was that they were definitely arguing.  
  
"You went out with Liam Neeson! Are you kidding me?" Andrew started his own argument with his partner, only his argument was incredibly loud. "Why would you ever tell me that you went out with Liam Neeson? Why would you do that?"  
  
"Because I was trying to be honest." Andrew's partner said.  
  
"I don't believe that A, you actually went out with Liam Neeson, and B, that you would choose to tell me now at this moment that you went out with Liam Neeson!"  
  
"Andrew!"  
  
"No!" Andrew threw his partner's hands down.  
  
"Andrew!"  
  
"I can't stand Liam Neeson!" Andrew announced as he stormed off of the dance floor, his partner running after him.  
  
"See, fun!" Rory said giddily to Jess, who half-laughed and tried to twirl her.  
  
~~~~  
  
**Fourteen hours into the marathon**  
  
"Must stay awake," Rory said, her head on Jess' shoulder. She and Jess were leaning against each other and swaying slightly, completely wiped out from fourteen hours of dancing.  
  
"Kiss," Jess implored. Rory lifted her head and kissed him softly. He stood up straighter. "Okay, I'm good for another half-hour."  
  
"How do you have so much energy?" Chris asked Lorelai.  
  
"It's the coffee. And the fact that Kirk is going down!" Lorelai shot the last phrase in Kirk's direction, who just shot her a look.  
  
"God, ten more hours of this," Chris groaned, looking at the clock.  
  
"Ooh, sweet retro girl! Let's dance over to her!"  
  
"Of course," Chris said as they danced over to Rory and Jess.  
  
"Wake up, Rory! We want Kirk to know that all of us Gilmores are ready to go go go!"  
  
"Hit her for me, Jess," Rory said, her head still in his shoulder.  
  
"Okay, but I'm using your hand." Jess lifted her hand and started to move it towards Lorelai.  
  
"Uh-uh! Don't you dare!!"  
  
"Okay." Jess dropped Rory's hand.  
  
An air horn sounded.  
  
"Is that the break?" Rory asked hopefully, lifting her head from Jess' shoulder.  
  
"No...it's the runaround," Lorelai explained.  
  
"The runaround? That does not sound good."  
  
"I'm sorry, baby. I'm so, so sorry." Lorelai apoligized.  
  
"What about us?" Chris asked gesturing to him and Jess.  
  
"Let me just say right now--Jess, if you have any of Luke's track genes, now would be a good time to use them."  
  
"God, no," Jess groaned.  
  
"Ladies and Gentlemen, on your marks...get set...and go!" Taylor yelled. All the dancers started running around the gym in a huge circle. "Round and round they go, but when the song stops, nobody knows! But the last five couples that finish behind the red line are automatically out, so hold onto your partner and move, move, move!"  
  
"I sincerely hate you, Mom!" Rory yelled as they were running, running as fast as they could.  
  
"Hey, at least there's only one of you. Jess, are those track genes gonna kick in anytime soon?"  
  
"If they do, it's only to get away from you."  
  
"Why do we have to make it, too?" Rory asked her mother.  
  
"So at least one Gilmore wins!"  
  
"So when can we collapse?"  
  
"Try closer to hour twenty-four. Or after Kirk falls down. Ooh! Or, we can trip him."  
  
"Still not taking it too seriously, huh, Lor?"  
  
"Oh, no, of course not."  
  
"I think I'm going to die." Rory gasped.  
  
"Me first," Jess said.  
  
"How much longer?" Chris asked.  
  
"I don't know. I just know that every year I block this part out." Lorelai answered.  
  
"From now on I'm going to remind you of it." Rory said.  
  
"Kirk, what are you doing?" Chris asked, noticing Kirk right on their heels.  
  
"I'm drafting you."  
  
"Well, stop it!" Lorelai yelled.  
  
"You can't tell me where to run!"  
  
"Kirk, I swear to God, don't make me come back there!" Lorelai yelled just as an air horn blew.  
  
"Ten minute break everyone, ten minute break. Well run. Ten minute break, everyone. Ten minute break." Taylor said. Jess, Lorelai, Chris, and Rory all collapsed on the gym floor, amongst a crowd of many. Rory, lying next to her mother, started moving her leg around.  
  
"What are you doing?" Lorelai asked.  
  
"I'm trying to kick you but I can't reach."  
  
"I would help you but I can't move." Chris said.  
  
"Can I owe you one?" Rory asked her mother.  
  
"Yeah, no problem."  
  
"Let's get up," Rory suggested. Jess nodded and they helped each other up.  
  
"What about you?" Lorelai asked, looking at Chris. He sighed, stood up, and then held out both hands to her. She happily put her hands in his and he pulled her up.  
  
"Let's go get sandwiches. I haven't eaten for forever!" Rory pulled Jess towards Miss Patty's, where Lane and her mother were dishing out eggless egg salad sandwiches.  
  
"Uh, Ror, you're not gonna want to eat for forever if you eat that," Jess said, refusing to walk closer to the food. If it could be called that.  
  
"I've been eating at the Kims' for years. Trust me, this is not the worst."  
  
The couple walked up to Lane, who dished out four sandwiches--two for them and two for Lor and Chris.  
  
"Good luck," Lane whispered as they walked off.  
  
"See? Even Lane won't eat them."  
  
"She'll eat them, she just knows that certain people can't."  
  
"Hmm, I have a feeling I'm one of the certain people." Jess took a bite. "Oh, and I am."  
  
Rory laughed as they started walking back to the gym, but stopped when she noticed someone standing in their path.  
  
"Dean."  
  
"Rory. Jess." Dean greeted.  
  
"Man, what are you doing here?" Jess asked.   
  
"I'm walking through town. I think I'm allowed to do that."  
  
"It's eight o'clock--everything's closed." Jess pointed out.  
  
"Except for the dance marathon, which apparently you two are headed towards."  
  
"Yeah, we're about to be late," Rory pulled Jess' arm, trying to get him to move.  
  
"You have nothing better to do than to sit around inside a gymnasium all day staring at a dance marathon?" Jess asked.  
  
"Well--"  
  
"Jess! We're going to be late! Leave the jerk alone!" Rory pulled on Jess' arm harder, and with the last phrase she finally managed to move him. Dean remained where he was, glaring after them. Jess showed his affection by waving with a certain finger, but Rory just pulled harder, and the next thing they knew they were back on the dance floor, handing disgusting sandwiches to Lorelai and Christopher. They reluctantly accepted them and began dancing as Taylor yelled.  
  
~~~~  
  
**Twenty-three hours into the marathon**  
  
All six of the remaining couples were incredibly worn out. Taylor was sitting at the podium, babbling to Miss Patty about his failed magic career. Jess and Rory, dancing next to Lorelai and Chris, were barely holding each other up, and Lorelai was trying to keep Chris from collapsing.  
  
"So Jackson blamed you?" Rory asked her mother.  
  
"Yeah, and then they ran out."  
  
"That's weird."  
  
"It's Jackson. He sings and dances with his fruit."  
  
"Hmm, that's true."  
  
Another couple fell down a few feet away, and were immediately disqualified. Kirk caught Lorelai's eye and did that whole "I'm watching you" hand gesture that Robert DeNiro did to Ben Stiller in _Meet The Parents_  
  
"Tell me a joke." Lorelai commanded of Chris.  
  
"Knock knock," he said sleepily.  
  
"That was a good one." Lorelai giggled. "Ow!"  
  
"You okay, Mom?"  
  
"Oh, no! My heel broke."  
  
"What?" Chris asked.  
  
"My heel just broke off. Damn, these are brand new shoes, too."  
  
"They were made in 1943." Rory reminded her mother.  
  
"Well, I just bought them Tuesday."  
  
"I told you not to wear vintage shoes."  
  
"But the lady at the store said that they hadn't been worn a lot."  
  
"Yeah, but not a lot in sixty years is still a lot." Chris said.  
  
"Oh, shush, you. I gotta fix 'em. I'll use my emergency card. I'll be right back."  
  
"No, if you leave, there's no way I'll be able to stand up on my own." Chris said into Lorelai's shoulder.  
  
"Ten minutes."  
  
"Good-bye."  
  
"Sookie!" Lorelai called as she noticed her friend walk into the gymnasium.  
  
"What's up, sweetie?" Sookie walked over.  
  
"My heel broke, and Chris is a big baby and needs someone to hold him up."  
  
"O..kay. Sure, I guess."  
  
"Good." Lorelai let Chris lean up against Sookie.  
  
"Get some glue," Chris muttered.  
  
"Thank you, sweetie." Lorelai kissed him on the cheek and walked away.  
  
"So, Sookie, how'd things go with Jackson?"  
  
"I need so much coffee," Rory murmured.  
  
"I'll go get you some," Jess said.  
  
"No, you can't, cause it would be the same problem Dad had. You gone, me floor."  
  
"I think I know how to solve that, but first--" Jess pressed his lips lightly to Rory's, and then he danced her over to Sookie and Chris.  
  
"I just have to figure out what I want. I think I'll ask Lorelai," Sookie was saying.  
  
"Excuse me, Sookie?" Jess tapped her on the shoulder. "Can Rory cut in? I'm going to get her some coffee."  
  
"Oh, sure. I need to talk to Lorelai, anyway."  
  
"Good." Sookie stepped back, and Jess placed Rory's arms around her father's neck.  
  
"Bye, Jess," she murmured. He smiled, held up his yellow card, and walked off the floor with Sookie.  
  
"You're being really sweet," Sookie commented to Jess.  
  
"It's hard not to. She's got killer kisses."  
  
"Oh." Sookie giggled.  
  
"Jess, what are you doing here?" Lorelai asked as the teenager walked up to Luke's coffee table.  
  
"Getting coffee for my partner. Where's Luke?"  
  
"Getting glue for my shoe."  
  
"Ah." Jess poured two cups of coffee, and handed one to Lorelai.  
  
"Why aren't you going back?"  
  
"Because if I go back Christopher will fall down."  
  
"Oh. Just waiting for me, huh?"  
  
"Yep."  
  
Another couple walked slowly off the dance floor, and Lorelai counted the remaining dancers.  
  
"Oh, we're cutting it close. Just you guys, me and Chris, Kirk, and those new people. I'm hoping that lady collapses soon."  
  
"Huh." Jess refilled Lorelai's now-empty coffee cup. "You know, Luke would yell at me if he knew I was giving you coffee."  
  
"Not his kid, not his problem."  
  
"Yeah, I guess."  
  
"Your shoe," Luke said, walking up to them, "is fixed."  
  
"You are such a life-saver! You totally rock!" Lorelai set her coffee cup down and took her shoe from Luke.  
  
"See you back out there," Jess said, taking the coffee cup back to Rory. Lorelai slipped her shoe on and ran out after him.  
  
"Coffee is a wonderful thing," Rory said after downing the entire cup in seconds.  
  
"Feel better?"  
  
"Oh, a Gilmore is so gonna win this!"  
  
"Chris, stand up," Lorelai said urgently. "Stand up better than that!"  
  
"I can't," he moaned, slipping through Lorelai's arms to the ground.  
  
"Oh, you are _so_ sleeping on the couch tonight."  
  
"I don't think that's gonna be a problem, Mom, cause he's already snoring." Rory pointed out. The woman of the other couple fell to the ground too, and Kirk threw daggers to Rory and Jess, who were both dancing more peppily since the kiss and the coffee.  
  
"You're gonna win, you're gonna win!" Lorelai said giddily to her daughter, watching as two helpful townies helped Christopher off of the dance floor.  
  
"Donna, I love you!" some weird guy yelled from the top of the bleachers.  
  
"Justin! Oh, my God! I love you too!" Donna, Kirk's partner, dropped his hands and ran as fast as she could to Justin. Kirk stood forlornly on the dance floor as Lorelai ran over to Rory and Jess.  
  
"You won! They won! Taylor! Miss Patty! They won!"  
  
"Taylor. Taylor!" Miss Patty poked the sleeping Taylor, but he remained sleeping, so Miss Patty pulled the air horn from in his hands and blew it. "Okay, Ladies and Gentlemen, we have a winner!" Miss Patty said into the microphone.  
  
"You won, you won, you won, you won!" Lorelai jumped up and down in front of Jess and Rory.  
  
"The marathon winner is Rory Gilmore and...is that Jess?"  
  
"That's Jess?" Taylor jerked awake.  
  
"Jess entered the marathon?" someone asked.  
  
"Yes, I entered the marathon!" Jess yelled.  
  
"Okay, the winners are Rory Gilmore and Jess Mariano!"  
  
"You got a trophy! You got a trophy! A Gilmore got the trophy!" Lorelai jumped up and down as Rory and Jess took their trophy from Patty.  
  
"A Gilmore got the trophy!" Rory said, jumping up and down beside her mother. 


	14. 99 Red Balloons

Title: Always You  
Chapter 14: 99 Red Balloons  
  
I love all of my reviewers! Love ya, love ya!!!  
  
~~~~  
  
Chris was sitting on the couch the day before Thanksgiving, his laptop on his lap. Files were spread all around him, and he was meticulously working through them, trying to finish up the last of his work before his real holiday began. He'd taken off Wednesday just to catch up, and he'd thought that he and Lorelai had had a doctor's appointment, but she'd called a while ago and said that it was canceled. It was all right to Chris, who just continued working.  
  
Rory was sitting at the counter at Luke's, Jess standing in front of her, and they were chatting about nothing in particular--books, movies, whatever. Every once in a while Jess would leave to fill someone's order, or he'd pour Rory another cup of coffee, but mostly they just talked. Luke didn't glare at them as long as they were talking, instead of kissing, which was okay for Rory. Even though she adored the kissing--they really worked well in that department--she liked the talking almost as much, because that was one of the reasons she'd been drawn to Jess in the first place.  
  
Lorelai had spent the last hour laid out across a bench on the Inn's grounds. Her ears were covered by the headphones of her Walkman, and the tape was an eightie's mix tape that Chris had made a while back, one day when Lorelai was feeling particularly crappy. Lorelai was perfectly content waiting out the rest of her work day outside, because the weather was that perfect temperature, just between hot and cold, even if it was late November. Lorelai's hands stayed on her six-month pregnant stomach, feeling her little one moving around, and songs that reminded her of her first pregnancy flowed around her ears.   
  
_You and I in a little toy shop_, Nena sang, not in German, but in English,  
  
_Buy a bag of balloons with the money we've got.  
  
Set them free at the break of dawn,  
  
'Til one by one, they were gone  
  
Back at base, bugs in the software  
  
Flash the message "something's out there"  
  
Floatin' in the summer sky  
  
Ninety-nine red balloons go by. . .  
  
_The soft beat of the song faded away and the pop beat really started. Chris gathered the last of his papers and stuffed them into the manilla folder at his right side. He picked up that folder and the rest of the stack, arranged them so they looked business-like, and slid them into his briefcase. He set his laptop on the coffee table, turned the volume on the puny speakers all the way up, stood, and started dancing, the kind of stupid dance he'd done when Nena had first come out with the German version of "99 Luftballoons."  
  
_Ninety-nine red balloons  
  
Floatin' in the summer sky  
  
Panic bells, it's red alert  
  
There's something here from somewhere else  
  
The war machine springs to life  
  
Opens up one eager eye  
  
Focusing it on the sky  
  
Ninety-nine red balloons go by._  
  
Rory nodded her head to the beat of the song, snapping on the drum beats. Jess shook his head and reached out a hand to lead her upstairs. She took it, grabbed the radio, and followed him, still dancing. Jess, just thankful she'd stopped singing, allowed himself to be led in a funky little dance she was doing, moving to the beat.  
  
_Ninety-nine decision street  
  
Ninety-nine ministers meet  
  
To worry, worry, super-scurry  
  
Call the troops out in a hurry  
  
"This is what we've waited for.  
  
"This is it, boys, this is war!"  
  
The president is on the line as ninety-nine red balloons go by.  
  
_The frenzied beat of the drums slowed down a little, and Lorelai, now sitting up, felt the baby slow down too. He'd been jumping around for a while, and Lorelai was thrilled to learn that her baby had his mother and father's taste in music. Lorelai nodded her head to the right on every drum beat, and before long, she felt like she was re-enacting "A Night At The Roxbury." But she didn't care.  
  
_Ninety-nine knights of the air  
  
While super high-tech jet fighters  
  
Everyone's a silver hero  
  
Everyone's a Captain Kirk  
  
With orders to identify, to clarify and classify  
  
Scramble in the summer sky  
  
Ninety-nine red balloons go by  
  
_Rory had started laughing at the "Captain Kirk" and hadn't stopped since, picturing Kirk in a jet fighter from "Star Wars," going after red balloons. Jess had walked over to Luke's closet and pulled out a ratty old "Star Trek" shirt, and that certainly didn't help matters.  
  
_As ninety-nine red balloons go by_  
  
Chris's dance was so embarrassing, that even though he was alone, he almost didn't want to do it. After a while he started moving and dancing like Emilio Estevez in "The Breakfast Club," kicking and bobbing his head around.  
  
_Ninety-nine dreams I have had  
  
In every one a red balloon  
  
It's all over and I'm standing pretty  
  
In this dust that was a city  
  
If I could find a souvenier  
  
Just to prove the world was here  
  
And here is a red balloon  
  
I think of you  
  
And let it go. . . ._  
  
The pop beat faded away, and the soft music started back up. Lorelai sang along to the anti-war song as she walked back into the Inn, her hand unconsciously rubbing her stomach. Nena's voice faded out, and then finally the sound of the keyboard, and Lorelai pressed stop on her Walkman, slipped her headphones off, and signed out for the day. 


	15. Yes, I do like the Bangles How'd you kno...

Title: Always You  
Chapter 15: Yes, I do like the Bangles...How'd you know?  
  
A/N: Hey, wouldn't it be cool if this story were a little closer to being over? Just me? Oh, well.  
  
Hey, I think I'm ending the story soon! Like this chapter probably! Yay!  
  
I'm fast-fowarding. It's Febuary, and Lorelai's due in, like, three days. Enjoy!  
  
~~~~~~~  
  
_I hate being pregnant_, Lorelai thought as she tried to towel herself off one cold winter morning. _I mean, it goes in cycles. The first few months, it sucks, cause you're always throwing up. Then it's cool for about four months, and then you just get sick and tired of it. Well, that's me. I'm sick and tired of it._  
  
Lorelai gave up on trying to make herself dry and wrapped her robe around her bulging stomach. She sighed and unwillingly opened the bathroom door. Yep, just as she'd suspected. The heat was on. Even when the other two weren't home, the heat was on. Lorelai waddled out of the bathroom and towards her room. Not ready to put on hot clothes yet, Lorelai sat on her bed and brushed her hair. She glanced at her feet.  
  
_Huh_, she thought, noticing the chipped nail polish. _I haven't seen my toes in about two months. Being pregnant is weird._  
  
Bored with her toes, her hair...straight, at least, Lorelai pushed herself from the bed and walked over to her dresser. She threw the brush on top of the other crap and started out of her room, downstairs.  
  
"Coffee coffee coffee," she sang under her breath, making her way to the kitchen. "I must have coffee."  
  
There was already some coffee brewing in the coffee maker, and Lorelai silently blessed both Chris and Rory, and then immediately cursed them as she realized her hair was sticking to the back of her neck. In the middle of _winter_.  
  
"It's too damn hot," Lorelai muttered, carrying her now full coffee cup to the thermostat. It was set on seventy. "Hot," Lorelai muttered again. She changed it to fifty-eight and then stood back in pleasure. "Not."  
  
Satisified, she carried her coffee cup to the kitchen table. She sat down and then realized she was without both food and something to do. So, she got back up, stuck two Pop-Tarts in the toaster, and dug through the recycle pile for an old issue of _Modern Bride_ that Rory had bought when she'd gone through her 'my parents are getting married! plan plan plan now!' phase. Lorelai threw it on the table and refilled her coffee cup. Walking back to the table, she felt liquid running down her legs and puddling on the floor.  
  
"Great, just when I'd gotten dry, you decide to come out," Lorelai said to her stomach, setting the coffee on the table and picking up the phone. "Do you know how hard it is for me to clean stuff like that up?"  
  
She dialed a number, and when someone answered on the other line she said, "Your second kid wants to come out. Pick up the first one and meet me at the hospital, kay? Kay."  
  
"Wha--?" Chris asked, but Lorelai interrupted him.  
  
"I'm gonna call Babette, cause she promised to drive me to the hospital if you weren't home. I love you very much, although I have a feeling I will hate you in about ten minutes."  
  
"Love you, too."  
  
"Shush and get going. Bye." Lorelai hung up the phone and threw it on the kitchen table. Sighing, she walked back to the bottom of the stairs and looked up.  
  
"My clothes are so far away...and Rory's stupid just as skinny as she was nine months ago." Lorelai sighed again. "Being pregnant sucks."  
  
Waddling up the stairs, Lorelai rubbed her stomach and kept up a perpetual conversation.  
  
"You're going to be coming out soon, and I know I'm gonna love you and everything, but if you see me screaming, it's not your fault. It's your daddy's."  
  
Having reached the top of the stairs, she realized that she'd left the phone--which she needed to call Babette--on the kitchen table, next to her rapidly cooling coffee. Groaning, she continued to her room and dressed. Mumbling to herself about their lack of a second phone, she walked back downstairs and eventually reached the phone. Dialing the familiar number, Lorelai took a sip of her coffee and grimaced. It was cold. Practically freezing.  
  
"Hello?" Babette asked on the other end of the phone.  
  
"Hey, Babette, it's Lorelai," Lorelai started, but Babette interrupted her with a big gasp.  
  
"Is it time, sweetie?"  
  
"Yeah."  
  
"I'll be right there. Grab your coat and meet me in the car." Babette hung up, and almost immediately, Lorelai heard her car start up outside.  
  
"Lorelai, baby doll, let's get going!" she yelled. Lorelai smiled, grabbed her coat, and headed out the door.  
  
~~~~~~~  
  
"It's that time of year, guys," a teacher at Chilton was saying. "I know you guys are all nerve-wrackingly worried about college right now, but let me assure you, that this project will surely take your minds off it."  
  
Almost the entire class groaned at the word "project", save two--Paris and Rory.  
  
"You're going to have to create your own village, based on those in the Greek myths we've been studying for the past two months. You can be as creative as you like, but there are a few major criteria."  
  
Rory suddenly felt a slight buzz at her waist, and, after looking around to see no one was looking, she discreetly checked her pager.  
  
Baby front of school now.  
  
"Omigod," Rory breathed. She raised her hand. "May I be excused to the office?" she asked without allowing herself to be called on. The teacher, annoyed that she'd been interrupted, nodded slightly, and Rory grabbed her stuff and ran from the room, catching a confused look from Paris.  
  
"Baby," she mouthed, and Paris nodded.  
  
Rory ran through the hallways at Chilton, not even bothering to stop by the office. She made her way directly to the front of the school, where her father was standing outside, leaning against his idling car.  
  
"Let's go," Chris said, getting into the Volvo. Rory nodded and got in next to him.  
  
"How's Mom?"  
  
Chris shook his head. "You're mother's certifiably insane, I'm not kidding. She actually called me and said that 'my second kid' wanted to come out, so she told me to pick up 'my first kid and meet her at the hospital.' And that's basically all she said."  
  
Rory smiled. "Sounds like Mom."  
  
"Sure does."  
  
~~~~~~~  
  
Rory was pacing outside of her mother's delivery room. Lorelai had kicked her out when she'd started pushing, saying that she didn't want to kill Rory for the pain, only Chris. So Rory had been forced to stand outside her mother's delivery room where her little sibling was being born. Her grandparents were around, somewhere--Richard had wandered off in the search of a worthy newspaper, while Emily was pacing near the vending machines, a cold cup of coffee in her hand, deciding whether or not to rejoice over the birth of her second grandchild. Rory, somehow alone in the big hospital, needed some kind of comfort, so she pulled out her cell phone and, after checking that it was after three, and Jess would be out of school, called the diner.  
  
"Luke's," Luke answered.  
  
"Hey, Luke, this is Rory. Is Jess there?"  
  
"Lemme get him. JESS!" Luke yelled. "PHONE!"  
  
There was a slight pause, and then Jess' voice rang out over the line. "Yeah?"  
  
"Jess," Rory said.  
  
"Hey," Jess smiled. "Where are you? I waited for you to get off the bus, but you didn't. You stuck at school?"  
  
"No, I'm in the hospital."  
  
"What? Why?" Jess said, worried.  
  
"Mom's giving birth."  
  
"Oh. I'll be right there."  
  
"Thank you."  
  
"You're welcome. Bye." Jess smiled again and hung up the phone. "Luke, I'm out."  
  
"You just got here," Luke complained.  
  
"That was Rory on the phone. Lorelai's having a baby."  
  
"You just now noticed that?" Luke asked, slightly bitter.  
  
"No, she's having her baby. Right now. In the hospital."  
  
"Oh. I'll take you."  
  
"What?"  
  
"I'll drive you to Hartford."  
  
"I"ve got a car," Jess pointed out.  
  
"Yeah, but it stalls all the time. You don't want to be stalled on the way to the hospital, do you?"  
  
"No, I guess not."  
  
"Good. Let's go." Luke started for the door.  
  
"By the way, how's Nicole doing?" Jess asked non-chalantly.  
  
"And we're back," Luke turned around and headed for behind the counter. After a second, he threw his keys at Jess. "Take the truck. Be home in time for closing."  
  
"You got it." And Jess breezed from the diner, leaving his very confused uncle serving food to Kirk.  
  
~~~~~~  
  
"Oh, he's so cute," Rory gushed, sitting on the edge of her mother's bed and peering at her new baby brother.  
  
"I'm...just so thrilled he's out," Lorelai said.  
  
"Does he have a name?" Rory asked, looking from her mother to her father.  
  
"No. We were hoping you could help us with that." Chris said.  
  
"Yeah, all of my ideas came from TV and movies, and all of Chris' ideas came from bands. We figured all of yours would come from books, so we decided we'd pick the best of the best."  
  
"Oh, okay. You know, you could just look through the print-outs from americanbaby.com I brought." Rory said, holding up a packet of papers. "I figured there might be some indecision, so I searched on AOL."  
  
"That's my ever-prepared pretty daughter!" Lorelai exclaimed. Rory and Chris both looked at her like she was crazy, so she showed them her IV, and they nodded.  
  
"Anyway, you don't need the girl pages, anymore, so here's the boy packet. One copy for each of us." Rory handed packets to her mother and father.  
  
"Not Jacob," Lorelai said immediately.  
  
"Or Andrew, or Joshua," Chris added.  
  
"God, these are all normal names." Lorelai complained.  
  
"They're the most popular names," Rory explained.  
  
"Listen to the explanation of the name 'Matthew'," Chris said. "'The name Matthew has two distinct images: an outgoing young individualist who is cute, strong, and mischievous or a hardworking, reserved, traditional family man.' That sounds okay."  
  
"I like the first description." Lorelai grinned.  
  
"So Matthew's a possibility?" Rory asked. When her parents nodded, she pulled out a pad of paper and wrote it down. "Anything else?"  
  
"Anthony, maybe," Chris said. Lorelai laughed. "What's so funny?" Chris asked.  
  
"Hey, Antony! Your sister's knocked up and your brother's in the East river. How you doin'?" Lorelai yelled in a Brooklyn accent.   
  
"So, that's a no for Anthony," Rory said, and Chris nodded emphatically next to the laughing Lorelai.   
  
"God, Rory, there's like thousands of names here," Lorelai eventually complained, after she stopped laughing.  
  
"I know. You don't have to choose a name right now, I guess."  
  
"No, we don't." Chris said, flipping through the pages of the packet.  
  
"So you guys just look through the names, I'm gonna go get a soda."  
  
"Bye, sweetie!" Lorelai called as Rory walked out of the room. Then she and Christopher descended into a peaceful silence. All of a sudden, Lorelai burst out laughing...again.  
  
"What is it this time?" Chris asked.  
  
"Under 'names of attractive boys' they have the name Kirk!" And Lorelai couldn't be reached for the next ten minutes, she was laughing so hard.  
  
~~  
  
"Hey," a familiar voice said behind Rory as she stood up from getting her soda. She twirled around.  
  
"Jess! Hey!" she threw her arms around his neck. "Thanks for coming. I just felt kind of alone, and I wanted to give my parents some time alone with my brother."  
  
"No problem. So, it's a boy?"  
  
"Yeah."  
  
"It's an unnamed boy?"  
  
"Oh, uh-huh. They're having the hardest time coming up with anything at all."  
  
"Huh. Your dad's last name is Hayden, right?"  
  
"Right."  
  
"So it'd be 'whatever Hayden.'" Jess confirmed. Rory nodded.  
  
"Did they ever think about...I dunno. What's that band your mom's always raving about? That girl group from the 80s?"  
  
"The Bangles?" Rory asked increduously.  
  
"Yeah, the Bangles. She's bound to know way too many details about them, including the names of their husbands, significant others, and good guys in their songs. Ask her about that."  
  
"You're so smart," Rory declared, kissing Jess softly before pulling him behind her into Lorelai's room.  
  
"Jess just had the most fabulous idea," Rory announced, "about the baby's name."  
  
"Ooh, what? We're completely lost."  
  
"Well, Jess mentioned something about names from the Bangles. Like, their significant others, the names of the good guys in their songs, stuff like that."  
  
"Ooh, I know this!" Lorelai's eyes lit up. "Okay, Susannah's married to Jay--no, I'm not naming my kid Jay. Vicki's engaged to John, Debbi's married to Steve, Michael--ooh, Michael!" Lorelai looked expectantly at Chris, who nodded. Rory wrote the new name down on the pad of paper, and then lifted the baby from Chris' hands and sat down. Lorelai continued thinking about names from the Bangles.  
  
"I think the only two boys' names I've heard in Bangles songs are Denny and James. OOH! I have the best name in the _world_ in my head right now!"  
  
"And it is..." Chris, now baby-less, prompted.  
  
"James Michael Hayden! Jimmy Hayden. James Hayden. Michael Hayden. Jim Hayden. Mike Hayden. Mikey Hayden. It works on so many levels. Don't you agree?"  
  
Chris nodded, while Rory glanced at her wide-awake little brother.  
  
"Let's ask him," she said suddenly, and then before anyone could speak, she leaned closer to the infant and cooed, "Do you like the name James Michael? Is that your name? Is your name James Michael Hayden?" The baby just continued gazing back at Rory, who smiled and looked at the other three in the room. "He's not crying, I think it's good."  
  
"Good. James Michael Hayden it is," Lorelai confirmed.  
  
"Oh! I just realized why that name sounds so familiar," Chris said suddenly.  
  
"Why?" Jess asked.  
  
"James Michael Tyler plays Gunther on Friends."  
  
"Oh, yeah," Lorelai nodded. "I still like the name. Just as long as he doesn't die his hair that awful bleach blonde color."  
  
"I agree." Chris nodded and settled himself onto the bed next to Lorelai. Jess walked over to Rory and settled his arm on her shoulders.  
  
"Hi," he whispered to her little brother. "How are you? I'm Jess. It's nice to meet you, James." Jess offered his finger and shook the little hand half buried in the blanket. James grabbed Jess' finger and held on as tight as he could. Rory smiled. 


	16. Disappearances

Title: Always You  
Chapter 16: Disappearances  
  
A/N: I'm back.  
  
Sigh.  
  
I seriously want this story to be over, but I'd feel really bad if I just left you guys hangin', so here's the low-down.  
  
(Yes, I have been watching too much TV, including the commercials for "Bringing Down the House" which is so ridiculous, it should be named "Bringin' Down Da Hiz-ouse!")  
  
Anyway. Fast-forwarding. Graduation. Next chapter wedding. Baby's in both chapters. Little baby James. OOH! James Taylor might also be in a chapter at some point, singin' 'bout Sweet Baby James. Or maybe just Chris.  
  
~~~~~~~~  
  
"I'm coming!" Rory called as someone knocked on the door. Lorelai and Christopher were out on one of their first dates since the birth of James, and Rory was home alone watching him. She scooped him up in her arms and walked from her room to the door. As she turned the corner into the foyer, the person knocked again.  
  
"Hang _on_!" Rory shouted.  
  
"Geez, sorry," the person--guy--said defensively through the door. Rory stopped inches from the door.  
  
"Jess?" she asked.  
  
"Rory," he said back. She smiled.  
  
"Come on in. I have no hands."  
  
Jess obliged, pushing the door open softly and peeking in. He smiled as he noticed Rory and--more specifically--James in Rory's arms.  
  
"Hey," he cooed, immediately transferring the infant from Rory's arms to his own. "How's the little man doing? How's my little man James?"  
  
Rory laughed. "Did you just come over here to spend time with James or your girlfriend?"  
  
"Oh. Hey," Jess leaned over and kissed Rory on the lips. "How's your studying going?"  
  
"Ugh," Rory groaned and led Jess and James over to the couch. "I hate finals so much."  
  
"I understand. But hey--these are the last finals you'll ever have at Chilton."  
  
"Ugh. That's weird."  
  
"Yeah. Next year this time, you'll be at Yale freaking over finals."  
  
"I'm not freaking," Rory said defensively as she collapsed onto the couch next to Jess.  
  
"Okay, you're not freaking. Sorry I said anything."  
  
"Yeah. Speaking of Yale, where are you going to college again?"  
  
Jess sighed. "Rory."  
  
"I'm sorry, it's just...you're smart enough for any college. Yale, Harvard, anything."  
  
"I'm not going."  
  
"Okay."  
  
There was silence for a second, and then Jess sighed, laid the sleeping baby into his playpen and turned to Rory.  
  
"My dad showed up."  
  
"What?"  
  
"My dad showed up."  
  
"Well, that's...good?"  
  
"He, uh, asked me to go back to California with him."  
  
"California?"  
  
"Yeah."  
  
"Oh. Okay."  
  
Rory silently thought over this news. Jess stared at her. After a second, he leaned over and wrapped his arms around her. She looked up, kissed him softly, and leaned into his shoulder.  
  
~~~~~~~~  
  
"You should never try dancing again," Lorelai laughed as she and Christopher walked up the steps of their house.  
  
"Hey, I can do some dancing."  
  
"Key word: _some_. As in, none at all."  
  
"What about the Viennese Waltz?"  
  
"Yeah, the Viennese Waltz. That's the kind of dancing you need to do at a party."  
  
"I wouldn't call that a party," Chris pointed out.  
  
"Sookie and Jackson called it a 'we're pregnant!' party--it's a party."  
  
"Okay, whatever you say."  
  
"Mmm, are you just humoring me?"  
  
"Yes."  
  
"Good." Lorelai smiled and leaned in. Chris put his arms around her waist and pulled her closer as the kiss deepened. After a few minutes Lorelai slowly placed her hands on his chest and pushed him gently away.  
  
"We need to relieve Rory of baby duty," she reminded.  
  
"Oh, do we have to?" he groaned, in between placing a trail of kisses along her chin.  
  
"Yes," she said, gently pushing him farther away. He groaned again and she grabbed his hand and led him inside.  
  
"Rory?" she called--softly, in case the baby was asleep. Still attached to Chris, she edged into the living room and stopped.  
  
Rory and Jess were sprawled out on the couch. Rory was on the inside, James lying on her chest. One of Jess' arms was under Rory's head and the other was thrown across her stomach, holding one of her hands, while her other hand was on James' back. All three were sleeping peacefully.  
  
"Should we wake them up?" Chris asked, staring suspiciously at Jess, who looked a little too right with his arm slung across Rory's stomach, so close to the baby.  
  
"No, they look too sweet just lying there. But we should probably move James upstairs."  
  
Chris nodded and walked completely into the living room. Lorelai slid Rory's arm away from the baby, and Chris picked him up. James shifted a little, but settled into his dad's shoulder. As Lorelai let go of Rory's arm, she shifted a little too, but then settled into Jess more completely, whose arm unconsciously pulled Rory to him. Lorelai smiled at the couple and pushed slightly on Chris' back to get him to start up the stairs, forcing him to break the evil glare he was shooting at Jess.  
  
~~~~~~~~  
  
Rory woke up in a very interesting and unexpected place: Jess' arms. It was nice, so she snuggled in closer, but after a few minutes, realized she was completely awake, so she grabbed Jess' arm and glanced at the time. Half past six. She sat up, slowly, which caused Jess' arms to fall away from her. She mourned the loss of his arms around her for just a second, but then climbed over his legs and almost fell on the floor.  
  
"Ahh!" she screamed, and then giggled. Jess sat straight up.  
  
"What happened? What happened?"  
  
Rory just shook her head, continued giggling, and stood up. "Nothing," she smiled, leaning to kiss him. "I'm gonna go get dressed for school."  
  
"I should do that too," Jess said. Rory nodded.  
  
"Meet me at Luke's in half an hour?"  
  
"Of course," Jess stood and kissed Rory again. "See ya."  
  
Rory smiled as the door closed and headed into her room to change.  
  
~~~~~~~~  
  
"So, since I have enough time, I figured I'd ride with you into Hartford." Chris overheard Jess saying to Rory and Chris, Lorelai, and James walked into Luke's, James strapped to Lor's chest.  
  
"Are you sure you have enough time?" Rory asked.  
  
"Plenty." Jess kissed Rory quickly on the lips and then walked off to take someone's order. She watched him walk away and noticed her family.  
  
"Hey!" she smiled.  
  
"Hey, sweetie," Lorelai greeted. James gurgled.  
  
"What was Jess talking about?" Chris asked, suspicious.  
  
"Oh, he's gonna ride on the bus with me to Hartford."  
  
"Why?"  
  
Rory shrugged. "He's got time before school."  
  
"Okay," Chris accepted grudgingly, still suspicious of the teenage boy.  
  
"Ready to go?" Jess asked, coming over. Rory nodded, and then kissed James goodbye.  
  
"Bye!" she waved to her parents as Jess herded her out of the door. Jess waved goodbye too, and then caught Luke's eye. After a prolonged glance, Luke nodded sadly and Jess broke the glance and walked out of the diner. Chris noticed the exchange, but he seemed to be the only one who did. He didn't understand it...but he would, and sooner than he expected.  
  
~~~~~~~~  
  
"Boy, Kirk's got a huge bag," Rory observed as the man stepped onto the bus, struggling to carry a large green bag. Jess just nodded and looked out the window.  
  
"Hey...you okay?" Rory asked, placing a hand on his arm. Jess just nodded and then turned to her.  
  
"You're really sweet, and beautiful, and smart," he said suddenly.  
  
"Oh. Thank you," Rory said, confused.  
  
"Yeah." Jess nodded and then kissed her.  
  
Thirty minutes later, Rory and Jess climbed down from the bus, Rory to head to school and Jess to catch the return bus.  
  
"Oh, I gotta go," Rory said, glancing at her watch.  
  
"See ya," Jess said, completely devoid of emotion. Rory nodded, pecked him on the cheek, and ran away. Jess waited a second and then turned to head back onto the bus he'd just returned from. Kirk ran directly into him and shoved the large green bag at him.  
  
"Thanks," Jess said, handing Kirk a twenty. Kirk nodded, mumbled something about needing "only fourty more to get Mother out of the house," and headed to the return bus. Jess walked back up the steps and sat in his same seat, headed away from Hartford, Stars Hollow, and Connecticut....  
  
And into the future.  
  
~~~~~~~~  
  
Graduation was two weeks later, and James, Lorelai, Emily, Rory, Sookie, and even Richard shed tears at some point during the ceremony. Lorelai continued bawling about her baby growing older, Rory cried about leaving her mother, Emily cried about growing old, Sookie cried because of the extra hormones, James cried because he was a baby, and Richard cried because his granddaugter was the valedictorian and would soon be attending Yale. Christopher just looked proud.  
  
At the party that Lorelai threw afterwards, Lane and Rory cried about going to different colleges and rejoiced over the fact that they still could live near home. Richard and Emily put in a slight appearance, handing Rory a check for college supplies. Sookie rejoiced over everyone enjoying her food, while Jackson rejoiced over everyone enjoying the produce. Christopher remained proud. James stopped crying and gurgled happy noises while smiling at Rory.  
  
At one point during the party, Rory was being congratulated by Babette and Morey when she noticed that Luke was cleaning the counter in the diner, all alone. She excused herself and walked into the diner.  
  
"Hi," she said, walking up to the counter. Luke stopped scrubbing and looked up.  
  
"What are you doing in here? There's a whole party for you going on out there."  
  
"I know. I just...thought I'd come and see how you're doing."  
  
"Oh."  
  
"So how're you doing?"  
  
Luke shrugged. "I'm doing okay."  
  
"He called me," Rory said softly. "I mean, he didn't say anything, but I know it was him."  
  
"I know. He told me."  
  
"Really? Did he say why?"  
  
"He said he misses you, but it was just something he had to do."  
  
"Well, if you talk to him again, tell him I don't hate him. I mean, I don't understand him, but I certainly don't hate him."  
  
"Sure."  
  
"Okay. Thank you, Luke."  
  
"No problem."  
  
Rory nodded and started to leave, but then she walked behind the counter and threw her arms around Luke.  
  
"Thank you...for _everything_."  
  
"You're...welcome." Luke forced out, awkwardly hugging her back. Rory smiled up at him and then left, almost skipping from the diner. In that minute, Luke felt more like a father than he'd ever felt in the entire two years with Jess. Luke smiled and continued wiping the counter down. 


	17. He's Staying

Title: Always You  
Chapter 17: He's Staying  
  
I'm BACK!  
  
It's OVER! Yes! Thank GOD! FINALLY!  
  
~~~~~~~~  
  
Lorelai Gilmore was sneaking out of her house.  
  
She hadn't snuck out of her house since she was sixteen, and even then, it wasn't her house, it was her parents', so it was different.  
  
But here she was, holding her shoes in her hand and creeping down her stairs, avoiding the fifth stair from the top and the third stair from the bottom because they creaked. Worried that the person she was sneaking away from was still awake, Lorelai stared at the closed bedroom door while still walking, and ran directly into the coffee table, hitting her shin.  
  
"G--!" she started to scream, clapping her hand over her mouth just in time. There was a slight noise from the other room, but no shaft of light appeared underneath the door, so Lorelai continued on her way, contemplating which door to edge through before finally deciding on a living room window that led to the porch. So she edged the window open and crawled out, landing as ungracefully as possible on the porch, but luckily not making any noise. She continued creeping down the porch steps, avoiding the second one, because it also creaked. As soon as her stockinged foot hit the grass, she slid on her shoes and pulled her coat tighter around her as she started running down the street. Making her way to the Independence Inn, Lorelai ran in, waving to Tobin as she did. Bypassing a few confused employees, she ran up the stairs and to a door, knowing exaclty which one to stop at. She smiled, gazed around for any rogue spies, and knocked happily.  
  
After a few minutes, Chris appeared at the door, rubbing his eyes.  
  
"What are you doing here? It's bad luck," Chris pointed out after Lorelai released him from their kiss.  
  
"I just had to see you. I can't handle spending a night away from you."  
  
"That's very sweet. You need to go home, though. Get your beauty rest, although you certainly don't need it."  
  
"You're so wonderful," Lorelai smiled, kissing him again.  
  
"Do you want me to escort you home, my beautiful bride to be?"  
  
"Only to the driveway. I don't want Rory to know that I snuck out."  
  
Chris laughed and nodded. "Sure. Only to the driveway."  
  
~~~~~~~~  
  
Little James Hayden was being passed from arms to arms. First he stared into the face of his mother, who happily picked him up from his crib, spun him around, and sang--badly--about how she was getting married in the morning. As he was spinning, James noticed his sister walking into the room, and before long, he was in her arms. She carried him downstairs and cooed at him, and then she strapped him to her chest in one of those baby carrier things and took him to Luke's. As soon as they arrived at Luke's, Lane arrived and pulled James out of the carrier. She cooed at him for a while, and then they all went outside again--this time, there was snow--and made it to the Independence Inn, where Sookie cooed over him while he stared at her daughter, in a car seat in the kitchen. Then his grandmother showed up and carried him around, until eventually he made it to his father, who placed him on a blanket where he crawled around for a while and shoved big red and black things into his mouth.  
  
~~~~~~~~  
  
Rory Gilmore was experiencing cold feet.  
  
The fact that she wasn't getting married didn't mean anything to her; she had cold feet plain and simple.  
  
Her parents were getting married.  
  
She'd been thrilled for the past eighteen months--since her father had proposed--but now that the wedding day was actually _here_, there was a horrible gnawing feeling in the pit of her stomach. She figured it had somthing to do with her own lack of a love life, and the fact that she hadn't had a successful date since Jess had up and left her for California without so much as a 'goodbye' less than a year ago. She'd been thinking about him more than often lately, and now she seemed to be hallucinating. Because she'd just dropped her brother off at the Inn with her father, and she'd ducked into Luke's for a coffee, and standing across the street, carrying a large green duffel bag and sporting a five o'clock shadow, Jess Mariano appeared to be getting snowed on.  
  
~~~~~~~~  
  
Christopher Hayden was getting married. He didn't know how it had happened, he didn't understand why it had happened, and he didn't know how in the hell he'd become the father to two children in the process, but Christopher Hayden was getting married to Lorelai Gilmore, the girl of his dreams. He'd bought an engagement ring, he'd bought two wedding rings, he was wearing a tuxedo. And now Chris was sitting on the bed in his room at the Inn, his son crawling around on the floor beside him, and wondering about leaving his homebody life behind, even if it was for only a week, as he and Lorelai went on their honeymoon. He'd gotten used to waking up next to her, making her coffee, changing James' daiper, kissing them both, heading off to work, coming home after work, eating dinner at Luke's or in front of the TV, playing with James, playing with Lorelai, and finally going to sleep. Even James had gotten used to the schedule, sleeping through the night now. Rory came home every weekend, she and Lorelai spent the entire two days watching movies and talking girl talk, and then Rory hugged her father, kissed her brother, and headed back to college.  
  
Somehow, it seemed that when he and Lorelai were joined in holy matrimony, it would all change.  
  
~~~~~~~~  
  
Jess Mariano had just spent _way_ too long on a bus from sunny California, and he was now standing in a street in a small town in Connecticut, snow in his hair and on his eyelashes, staring at a godforsaken diner he hadn't seen in six months. He glanced over the signs, for lack of a better thing to do.  
  
**Williams Hardware  
  
**_Luke's_  
  
GOOD FOOD  
  
Oh, now he'd done it.  
  
As he'd been staring at the words painted on the window, he'd inadvertently glanced inside, and now his gaze was held by two stunningly blue eyes, the owner of which was trying very hard to decide whether to kill him or kiss him. Either way, she'd have to travel out into the snow.  
  
And so she did.  
  
~~~~~~~~  
  
Forgetting her coat and her coffee, Rory ran out of the diner and threw herself at Jess, causing his duffel bag to fall to the ground. The snow slowed down and the gray clouds overhead shifted slightly so that the couple was standing in a small shaft of sunlight. Jess, surprised that Rory had gone with the "kiss him" method, awkwardly lifted his arms and tried to hug her back, but she'd decided she'd had enough of hugging him and was now pounding on his shoulders with strong fists.  
  
"Why did you leave me? You didn't say goodbye! You never said goodbye!"  
  
"I'm sorry," he tried to say, but she just continued screaming and hitting him, and then she collapsed completely into his arms and started sobbing.  
  
"You left me. You left me," she kept repeating, tears coming quickly and soaking his shoulder. Eventually he noticed her shivering, and led her into the warm diner, forgetting his duffel bag in the snow.  
  
"You left me," she moaned into his shoulder seconds before he opened the diner door.  
  
"But I came back," he said as he pulled the door open. She smiled then, a large, genuine smile, and kissed him as he pulled her into the warm diner.  
  
~~~~~~~~  
  
Lorelai Gilmore looked stunning as she walked down the aisle. She was wearing a long white velvet dress, silver snowflakes stitched all over it, and there were snowflakes in her hair, from her short walk from the door of the Inn to the warm tent that held the sixty-something wedding guests. Richard Gilmore happily led his only daughter towards Chris, who never stopped smiling. Rory and James, the maid of honor and best man, stood to the side, James in a stroller at Rory's side, playing with a small white pillow with the rings stitched inside. Emily smiled from the first row, thrilled that after all this years Chris and Lorelai were finally marrying.  
  
Rory's eyes wandered during the ceremony, to the back row, where they met a pair of chocolate brown ones. The owner of the eyes smiled at her, and she grinned back. He was staying.  
  
Lorelai and Christopher walked back down the aisle, together this time, a married couple with two legitimate children for the first time in over nineteen years. Rory rolled James out, who was gurgling and throwing smiles to all of the girls in the room. AFter a whirlwind reception, the Haydens edged into a white limo to the airport, headed away to Hawaii, the practically polar opposite of Connecticut in winter. Richard and Emily kissed cheeks and headed to Hartford. Rory and James wandered into the Gilmore--sorry, Hayden--home for rest after the long day, but after James had conked out, there was a slight knock on the door, and Rory pulled it open to reveal the brown eyes from earlier, the ones that were staying.  
  
"Jess," she whispered.  
  
"Rory," he nodded, sweeping into the room and kissing her.  
  
He was staying. 


End file.
